The Ordnance Factory Board
(OFB), which is celebrating its 219th foundation day on Wednesday, has exported its newly developed 52-calibre barrel for 155 mm artillery guns to Bofors Test Center, its chairman Hari Mohan said.
He said that OFB has exported two 52-calibre barrels to Swedish arms manufacturer Bofors AB, from which it had imported 155 mm howitzer guns in the mid-80s.
"We have made a prototype which is truck-chassis mounted," Mohan told newspersons here.
In the last 14-15 years, the OFB has done "immense progress" in the field of high-calibre barrels, be it for tanks, medium and heavy artillery guns, and the barrel of Dhanush artillary gun has been indigenously developed, he said.
"Now we are embarking upon a barrel further increasing it to 52-calibre. The range of 155 mm Dhanush gun is 38 km. The Bofors gun barrel is 39-calibre, while that of Dhanush is 45-calibre," he said.
Mohan said the OFB has already designed and manufactured 52-calibre barrel, an important component of a full-fledged gun, and mounted one on a truck.
"We have exported these to Bofors and 52-calibre barrels have been taken by its test centre, which is using these for validation of 155 mm ammunitions being developed by global OEMs," he said.
More than 150 rounds of shells have been fired from these 52-calibre barrels, he said.
"The barrel is behaving better than expected and the Bofors Test Center is extremely happy," he said.
Apart from the barrel, Bofors is also taking the breech mechanism and muzzle brakes and all the three are being used, he said on Tuesday.
"We indigenously developed the technology for 155mm/52-calibre barrels and exported these to Bofors Test Center," OFB chairman said.
He said the OFB, which had initially handed over six Dhanush artillery guns to the Indian Army, will, in a few weeks, supply another six such guns.
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