Lt Gen. Rameshwar Yadav (retd)

The induction of Dhanush artillery gun into the Indian Army is a landmark achievement of the Indian defence industry to fill up the much-needed fire power inadequacies in the tactical battlefield. It is indeed a signature project of the ‘Make in India’ campaign wherein more than 80 per cent of the components are of Indian origin fabricated jointly both by the public as well as private sector enterprises. The significance of this new equipment lies in demonstration of the structural strength of the Indian industry to manufacture a world class weapon system.

On the face of it, public sector units are manufacturing a large inventory of military hardware, but the catch lies in the generational gap leading to operational mismatches which warrants upgradation of technology thresholds. It is essential to ensure high mission reliability as well as the trust and confidence of the user in a weapon system for success in the battlefield. However, it hasn’t happened because the quality content of Indian products in few cases were found to be falling short of the user’s expectations. It has a concertina effect on the users’ psyche with negative connotations. Apropos, there exists a capability gap despite a vibrant industrial base, high skilled technical manpower and proven versatility of the private enterprise. As a result, India continues to import more than 70 per cent of her defence requirements from foreign countries even today.

In Indian context, the territorial disputes, both with China and Pakistan, happen to be in mountainous areas wherein the artillery is the mainstay of fire support. Moreover, the offensive content both in the mountains as well as plains requires sustainable, long range artillery fire support to build up superior combat ratios and punitive capabilities at the point of application of force. Given the security matrix, there are large deficiencies in the artillery guns as well a