OFB begins work on 114 Bofors guns in India

With four foreign vendors - Bofors (Swedish), Denel (South African), Rhienmetall (German) and Singapore Kinetics (Singaporean) firm presently blacklisted in the country, the Indian Army has a tough task cut out for itself to make good its artillery shortage. 

At this juncture, the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) has reached a critical stage in manufacturing indigenous artillery guns on the basis of the Technology Transfer done by the Bofors gun-maker in 1986.  Essentially Bofors has started Research and Development of two categories of artillery - first the 155 mm (diameter of the barrel) 39 calibre (length of the barrel) and the second one 155 mm 39 calibre guns.

Army has already placed an order of 114 guns. Some Army officers have been posted to OFB for these projects.The OFB will be making two prototypes of both categories of guns. The next step will be the trial evaluation of the guns by the Indian Army.

Here is a brief timeline of how OFB started on the path of manufacturing India's Bofors.

 File photo of Bofors gun with the Army

Early 2000 - OFB started upgrading Bofors. The 155 mm (diameter of the barrel) 39 calibre (the length of the barrel) could fire at a range of 30 kms. The OFB has been supplying Indian Army with the spares it got from Bofors in 1986. The barrels were gainfully used during the Kargil War.

2004 - In 2008, OFB set on the task of increasing the range of the guns from 30 kms to 39 kms. The design of the barrel was done jointly by the OFB and ARDE (Armament Research and Development Establishment). 

2006 - The barrel was tested. Along with the barrel the gun was upgraded. An Inertial Navigation Sighting (INS) System was put on the gun providing it with a direct line of sight. The INS was provided by Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL). 

2008 - OFB did a demonstration firing at Pokharan and achieved a range of 38 kms.

Jan 2012 - OFB made 155 mm 52 calibre guns. And they were test fired at Bhopal.