Landikotal, Pakistan’s farthest major town along the Durand Line in the tribal Khyber district, no longer makes a secret of what is perhaps its most lucrative trade. Firearms and equipment bearing military markings of the US and Nato countries are openly displayed for sale here.

The inventory is a hoplologist’s delight. Guns, long-range sniper rifl es, pistols, night vision goggles, binoculars, daggers, grenades, military uniforms and ammunition discarded by foreign or surrendered Afghan troops line the shelves of gun shops. Easy availability means prices of these fi rearms and accessories have already dropped significantly.

The asking rate for M4 rifles of the A2 and A4 categories has slid from $9,000-10,000 to $2,500-3,000. The value of the A2 and A4 versions of the M16 rifle ranges between $1,800 and $2,000, down from $5,000. The popular American-make Glock, Beretta, Smith & Wesson 9mm pistols are now available at almost throwaway prices. The Glock 9mm may still be expensive for most, but the price is nowhere near what it used to be. A Beretta or Smith & Wesson can be had for as little as $350-500 (Rs 26,000-37,000).

“These pistols are far superior than the ones legally imported by Pakistan. The American manufacturers use different metals in weapons for military and commercial purposes,” said an arms dealer in Landikotal.

According to arms merchants and security officials, weapons make their way from Afghanistan into Pakistan in trucks laden with fruits and vegetables. The trucks pass through border crossings in Torkhum (Khyber Agency), Chaman (Balochistan), Ghulam Khan (North Waziristan) and Nawa Pass (Bajaur Agency).

On entering Pakistan, the vehicles Kabul go through multiple layers of security checks. They first pass through a checkpoint of the army and the paramilitary Frontier Corps. The second security layer comprises personnel of the Anti-narcotics Force, followed by security clearance by Customs officials. After these three stages, the trucks have to be cleared by the police.

Scanners have been installed at these posts to check the vehicles for weapons in hidden compartments, but trafficking mysteriously continues. There is suspicion some Pakistani security offi cials are involved in this, without which it wouldn’t be possible to illegally take weapons past so many checks.

“This is a big challenge for us — how to stop the smuggling?” said Kamran, a senior customs official.

The Taliban had recently warned people in Afghanistan that if anyone was found in possession of a US-made fire-arm, it would be immediately confiscated and the offender punished.

“The Taliban knows many of its foot soldiers had helped civilians get hold of thousands of weapons stolen from the military bases. The warning has further increased smuggling of weapons into Pakistan as every Afghan who possesses an American or Nato rifl e or pistol now wants to sell it,” said one of the arms merchants in Landikotal, requesting anonymity. He said before the Taliban’s takeover, the outfit had tacitly allowed its fighters to sell firearms captured from the Afghan army.

The political system the US had introduced in Afganistan had started crumbling weeks before the exit of its troops, giving the Taliban control of thousands of American-made weapons, vehicles and military equipment in government military bases in different Afghan provinces.

Most of these firearms had been provided to Afghan security forces under the US training and assistance programme that cost American taxpayers more than$80 billion over two decades. While troves of weapons and vehicles were seized by the Taliban from the surrendering Afghan soldiers, many security personnel sold their rifles and pistols to local arms dealers when the collapse of the US-backed Afghan government became inevitable.

In the past, weapons enthusiasts in Pakistan would need to legally place an order and make huge payments in advance to get any sophisticated US-made firearms. The Taliban’s conquest of Afghanistan has ensured that it is now a buyer’s market in Pakistan.

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Bengaluru based-Dynamatic Technologies Ltd (DTL) has confirmed that the first Front Fuselage Assembly for the LCA-Tejas aircraft has been handed over to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) after acceptance from HAL. In 2017, Dynamatic Technologies Limited was chosen as the supplier for the Front Fuselage assembly from HAL – Light Combat Aircraft Division.

In 2019, Dynamatic Technologies Limited had launched,‘Tejas Main Fuselage Assembly’ for Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), and the first Front Fuselage Assembly for the LCA-Tejas was delivered in 2020.

Dynamatic Technologies is the first Indian company to manufacture and export a high accuracy tooling structure to Boeing Space and recently has been awarded a contract for the delivery of tools for the Boeing-Saab T-7A Red Hawk program. Dynamatic Technologies is already is the front runner for various other upcoming programs like Tejas Mk2, TEDBF, and AMCA and will also supply Front Fuselage Assembly for the LCA-Tejas Mk1A program.

Dynamatic Technologies to Provide Tools for T-7A RedHawk

Bengaluru-based Dynamatic Technologies Ltd said, on 24 September, that it had been awarded a contract for delivery of tools for the Boeing-Saab T-7A Red Hawk programme. The tools are for static and fatigue testing of the control surfaces of the Red Hawk programme. Dynamatic’s chief executive officer and managing director Udayant Malhoutra said the company has been a partner with Boeing on P-8 Poseidon and CH-47 Chinook for the last decade.

“We are proud to grow our partnership with Boeing on the T-7A Red Hawk,” he said in a statement. The T-7A Red Hawk is an all-new advanced pilot-training system designed for the US air force that would train the next generation of fighter and bomber pilots, according to a statement from Dynamatic.

Produced using advanced manufacturing techniques and built along a digital thread, the T-7A aligns with the US air forces new eSeries strategy by enabling design, coding and testing faster and more affordably through a digital matrix, the statement said. The Boeing/Saab T-7 Red Hawk, originally known as the Boeing T-X, is an American/Swedish advanced jet trainer developed by Boeing in partnership with Saab AB.

Economic Explosives Gets Order for 10 lakh Hand Grenades

In a first for the private sector in India, the defence ministry has placed orders, on 1 October, on a private company – Economic Explosive Limited (EEL) – for the supply of ten lakh hand grenades to replace a vintage design in service with the forces. The contract marks the first time that a privately owned company will supply the armed forces a completely built ammunition, reducing single source dependency of the OFB.

The supply of the hand grenades will be spread over a period of two years. The new grenades – called multi mode hand grenades (MMHG) – have been designed by the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory of DRDO and is completely made in India. The cost of the grenades is lesser than comparative production costs by OFB.

These new grenades will be supplied to the army and air force to replace Grenade No 36 – a World War II vintage design – that is currently in service. The MMGH can be used in fragmentation and stun modes and has a proven accurate delay time and high usage reliability.

DRDO had transferred technology to manufacture the grenades to the private company in 2016, following which extensive trials were carried out by the army in all weather conditions. These included trails in the deserts, high altitude areas as well as plains.

With the technology proven, the defence ministry fast tracked the acquisition case in just over a year, marking a speedy internal decision making process for a fully indigenous system. While there is a significant domestic demand for the MMHG, with India looking at becoming an export destination, the order could open up the international market for EEL as well. EEL is part of the Solar Group, which has set up a 2,000 acre facility for manufacturing ammunition and high energy materials in Nagpur – the biggest such project undertaken by the private sector.

Kongsberg Maritime to Supply Survey Systems to GRSE

Kongsberg Maritime announced, on 25 September, the sale of four HUGIN AUV systems to Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE), located in Kolkata. This sale has been conducted in collaboration with Kongsberg Maritime India, a subsidiary of Kongsberg Maritime.

The purchase, which also includes HiPAP 502 high-accuracy acoustic positioning and communication systems to support AUV operations, will be installed on the four Large Survey vessels currently in build for the Indian Navy.

HUGIN AUVs from KONGSBERG, which will augment the Indian Navy’s capabilities for coastal and deep-water hydrographic surveys to aid maritime operations.

The AUVs will be supplied with containers and launch and recovery systems, plus training and support.

Kongsberg Maritime is the world leader in deep water AUV systems. Since the first dive in 1993, HUGIN has become the most successful AUV in the deep-water realm, with more kilometres surveyed than any other untethered underwater vehicle. Developed in partnership with FFI – the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment – HUGIN continues to improve with new capabilities, sensors and behaviours being added each year.

Webley & Scott to Make Guns in India

Famous British firearms manufacturing company, Webley & Scott (W&S), which armed the Allied forces during the two World Wars and produced weapons for at least 15 countries, will mark its presence in the Indian sub-continent from November with the manufacturing of arms from its new unit in UP’s Sandila (Hardoi), barely 30km from Lucknow.

The handgun manufacturing giant has joined hands with Lucknow-based Sial Manufacturers Pvt Ltd for the project and will begin operations with production of revolvers.

The new unit will manufacture .32 revolver in the first phase. Later, it will manufacture pistols, airguns, shotgun and ammunition as well.

The original design of Mark IV .32 pistol of 1899 would be used to cater to Indian market in the first phase.

The cost of the .32 revolver will be Rs 1.6 lakh. Webley & Scott will be the first foreign company to manufacture firearms here.

Foreign Companies to Bid For Sniper Rifles

The National Security Group (NSG) and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) have come out with open tenders for 7.62x51mm sniper rifles that allow foreign purchases, despite the item figuring in the negative import list put out by the Modi government in August.

The negative import list sets December 2020 as the cut-off date for the rifle, which means its foreign-manufactured versions should not be bought after that date. The sniper rifle is one of 101 items on the negative import list issued in August, with different embargo dates — running up to 2025 — for different products.

The NSG came out with a tender for six sniper rifles on 15 September, also seeking accessories. The NSG tender does not allow direct participation of foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM). However, the Indian agent can participate in the tender and import the rifles and supply to the NSG.

The ITBP tender was issued on 10 August, a day after the negative import list came out, and seeks 358 sniper rifles of the 7.62x51mm variant.

No corrigendum has been issued by the ITBP for this tender except for an extension of the dates to close the bid. A source said foreign OEMs can’t directly apply, but any Indian company that serves as their agent/ representative can import the item.

The defence ministry had, earlier in September, decided to scrap two deals that were being pursued under foreign procurement — carbines from the UAE and Self-Propelled Air Defence Gun Missile System (SPAD-GMS) from South Korea — and route them through the ‘Make in India’ initiative.

Glock Pistols to be Made in Non-Service Calibres

The famous polymer-frame Glock pistols from Austria may soon be available to Indian citizens in non-service calibres. In 2019, the Tamil Nadu-based Counter measures technologies pvt. ltd. (CMT) and Glock GmbH, Austria, entered into a partnership to produce the pistols at the CMT plant in Tiruvallur district, which is part of the state’s defence industrial corridor planned by the Centre.

The joint venture was initially signed for supplying Glocks only to the government. With permission from the Centre, CMT has now set a target to sell the pistols to civilians by the end of March 2021, one of the Indian company’s directors and major shareholder.

The first priority of the company is to supply the 9 mm pistols to the armed forces. Civilians will get the .22 LR, .380, .357 Sig, .40 and .45 calibre pistols.

Today, Glock produces fifth generation pistols with competitors following its polymer technology.

In India, the majority of licensed firearms owners are saddled with old or antiquated foreign handguns imported before 1984 or the ones being made by government ordnance factories. The erstwhile Congress government at the Centre banned import of all types of firearms in 1984, giving exemptions only to national and international shooters and state agencies.

Glocks also went into action with NSG commandos during the terror attack on Pathankot air force base in 2016 and in other operations.

CMT has been given permission to manufacture ammunition of all calibres, ranging from the small .22 LR to the 12.7 x 108 mm heavy machine-gun cartridge used by the army. It plan to make the ammunition factory operational by the end of 2021.

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