India’s Ordnance Factory Board Revives Production of Anti-aircraft Guns

India’s Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) has revived the production of anti-aircraft guns at its facility in West Bengal state.

“The anti-aircraft guns were first manufactured in the 1960s but production was discontinued due to lack of demand. It will now be revived following demand from Indian Army as well as from outside,” Saurabh Kumar, DGOF and Chairman, OFB said during the CII Eastern Region annual meeting.

The guns will be produced at OFB’s Cossipore Gun and Shell factory, Kumar added.

The company has also received an order for production of ‘some items’ in the wake of India’s escalating border tension with Pakistan, The Hindu Business Line reported.

“There has been demand for some items including anti-aircraft guns, which cannot be revealed and we are fulfilling (them),” Saurabh Kumar, DGOF and Chairman, OFB said during the CII Eastern Region annual meeting.

Earlier, the OFB had received an order for production of 114 Dhanush Artillery guns worth Rs 1,000 crore ($142 million) from the Indian Army.

“We got clearance for bulk production of Dhanush guns two weeks ago. This is the first time India-made long-range artillery gun and the prototype has an indigenisation of 81 percent. Final commercial assembly of these guns will take place in the Gun Carriage Factory, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh,”

The design of the Dhanush guns is based on the Bofors Haubits FH77 which India acquired in the 1980s. The gun completed development trials in 2018 and was approved for series production in February 2019.