Indian Army begins trial for 66,000 assault rifles

Seeking to arm its infantry soldier with a lethal and sophisticated assault rifle from a foreign vendor, the Indian Army has started the field trials for procuring over 60,000 assault rifles in a deal valuing Rs. 13,000 crore.

Of the 40 overseas vendors, whom the Ministry of Defence sent a Request for Proposal (RfP) only four have applied for the tender and the winner will replace the 1990’s vintage the indigenous 5.56 mm INSAS assault rifle, inducted by the Army in its inventory reluctantly.

The four vendors had submitted their bids by mid-Feb. The Indian Army wants its latest rifles to be equipped with detachable under-barrel grenade launchers, night-vision devices, laser designators and so on. The other requirement is that the rifles should be able to fire locally-produced ammunition.

Sources said: “The trials have begun and considering the requirements of the force, the guns will be tested in deserts, extreme cold weathers, high altitude regions and so on. At all the places the earmarked guns for testing will be fired to check its accuracy, stoppages if any and any other technical requirements.”

The tender for 66,000 rifles was dispatched to over 40 overseas vendors in December 2011.

According to Indian Army officials the size of the deal is set to increase as the force would equip all its infantry soldiers. The Central Paramilitary Force and state police undergoing modernization programme would soon follow suit.

According to the Indian Procurement Policy, the selected vendor will have to transfer of technology to the state-owned Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) which will then manufacture the guns under license within the country.

The presently in vogue INSAS rifles were inducted into the Army in 1997-98 and has been employed extensively in the counter-insurgency in the area. However, the Army has always felt the rifle inadequate in meeting its operational requirement. On many a occasions in cold regions the firing mechanism of the guns used to get jammed. The gun was designed by military research body Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) over a period of ten years and manufactured by OFB in another four years.

Seeing its track record, Indian Army decided to import one lakh Kalashnikov-designed AK-47 rifles from Bulgaria in 1995 for counter-insurgency operations. Its special counter-insurgency force Rashtriya Rifles continues to use AK-47.

The issue of INSAS Assault Rifles malfunctioning became an issue of contention between India and Nepal in 2005, when Nepalese Army complained that the rifles supplied by India to fight Maoist guerillas malfunctioned repeatedly, resulting in heavy casualties.

Later In 2002 the Army also imported 3,070 Tavor 21 Assault Rifles of Israeli make for its Special Forces in a deal valuing $ 20 million. Paramilitary’s Special Forces units have also shown interest in the rifles.