Lucknow, Feb 6 (IANS): Indigenously upgraded Sharang 155 mm gun system will be inducted in the Indian Army, the Indian Army Chief said on Thursday. The induction of Sharang will bolster the Army's combat abilities.

"The Sharang artillery gun would be inducted into the Indian Army tomorrow," Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane told media persons.

The induction will include 18 Sharang guns.

The gun was successfully test-fired last month at the Long Proof Range (LPR) firing range of Khamaria in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh. The firepower of gun has been increased to 39 km.

The gun has successfully gone through integrated firing checks on different parameters, which included firing from 0 degree to 45 degrees.

The barrel of the gun has been upgraded from 130 mm to 155 mm and this has increased its hitting range by 12 km to 39 km.

The Gun Carriage Factory (GCF) in Jabalpur had won the global contract to upgrade the Sharang artillery gun, and it was done with the help of the state-owned ordnance factories, and teams from the Indian Army and DRDO.

Sharang is an upgraded version of Soviet-era 130 mm/52 calibre M-46 field guns. The original version has a strike range of 27 km.

Its commercial production will begin soon and India would be in position to export it, sources said.