The first batch of 18 indigenously upgraded Sharang towed 155 mm artillery piece will be inducted into the Indian Army by March 31 this year. The Sharang, upgraded from 130mm to 155mm with a striking range extended from 27 to 39 kilometres, had successfully gone through integrated firing check on different elevations ranging from 0 to 45 degrees at the Long Proof Range of Ordnance Factory Khamaria, 16 kilometers from Jabalpur district headquarters. The Gun Carriage Factory (GCF) in Jabalpur had won the global contract to upgrade the Sharang artillery gun.
The up-gradation work was carried out by the GCF with the help of the state-owned ordnance factories, and teams from the Indian Army and Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The Vehicle Factory Jabalpur (VFJ) has been tasked to assemble 12 Sharang gun systems. These guns will also be equipped with night vision sensors which will allow the armed forces to target the enemy at night. Vehicle Factory Jabalpur is a military motor vehicle manufacturing company located in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India, functioning under the aegis of Ordnance Factories Board controlled by the Ministry of Defence, Government of India.
India’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has awarded an INR2 billion (US$272 million) contract on 25 October 2018 to the state-owned Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) to upgrade 300 of the Indian Army’s (IA’s) Soviet-era 130 mm/52 calibre M-46 field guns to 155 mm/45 calibre in a bid to augment its firepower. The 155 mm Sharang towed artillery piece is an upgraded version of a Soviet-era 130 mm/52 calibre M-46 field gun. The 130 mm towed field gun M-46 is a manually loaded, towed 130 mm artillery piece, manufactured in the Soviet Union in the 1950s. For many years, the M-46 was one of the longest range artillery systems around, with a range of more than 27 km.
