After inducting 72,400 of 7.62×51 mm SiG Sauer rifles, with an effective kill range of 500-metres, for frontline troops under a Rs 647 crore fast-track procurement (FTP) deal inked in February last year, the Army is now firmly going ahead with induction of close-quarter battle (CQB) carbines and light machine guns (LMG) to arm infantry soldiers.
The requirement of these weapons for the infantry is huge with over 380 infantry and 63 Rashtriya Rifles battalions. The Army requires around 9.5 lakh assault rifles, 4.6 lakh CQB carbines and over 57,000 LMGs.
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Emergency procurements from abroad to meet critical operational requirements are underway. Bulk of the requirements will be met by `Make in India’ projects with foreign collaboration.
Assault Rifles
The contract for the second lot of 72,000 SiG Sauer assault rifles from the US is set to be inked by December. That would make it a total of 1.4 lakh SiG Sauer rifles. Simultaneously, the Army wants the ‘Make in India’ project to manufacture over seven lakh Kalashnikov AK-203 rifles, at the Korwa ordnance factory in Uttar Pradesh with Russian collaboration, to take off as soon as possible. The 7.62×39 mm caliber AK-203 rifles (with an effective range of 300-meter) will take care of the remaining requirement.
The manufacture of AK-203 rifles through the joint venture (JV) between OFB and Rosonboronexport-Kalashnikov, which was set up in February 2019, was stuck due to costing issues.
Light Machine Guns and Carbines
The deliveries of 16,479 Israeli Negev 7.62X51 mm LMGs will begin from January 2021 under a Rs 880 crore deal inked in March 2020. Indian companies have already been shortlisted for the subsequent project to manufacture the rest of the LMGs in India.
The RFP (request for proposal) to manufacture 4.6 lakh CQB carbines in India will also be issued in early 2021, after an earlier FTP procurement to buy 93,895 such carbines from UAE firm Caracal was scrapped. Caracal is still in the race. It has offered to invest 49 per cent in a Joint Venture with a domestic manufacturer with full technology transfer for 93,895 CQB carbines.
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After going through the technical evaluation under the tender, the Indian Army had chosen the CARACAL’s CAR 816 to arm the Indian soldiers, after it emerged as the lowest bidder when commercial bids were opened on Oct. 4, 2018. The next day, the Emirati company was handed over a draft contract, but there was no progress since then.
In January 2018, the current fast-track procurement of the 93,895 carbines had been approved for tendering by the Defence Acquisition Council, in a deal that was said to be worth at least Rs 2,000 crore ($270 million in today’s currency conversion).
The Army had first asked for new assault rifles and CQB carbines in 2005, while the case for LMGs was initiated in 2009. The long-drawn procurement projects were repeatedly scrapped due to graft allegations or unrealistic technical parameters.
