India buying 72,400 Assault Rifles from US firm to replace INSAS
India’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has signed a contract for the procurement of 72,400 Assault Rifles through fast track procurement (FTP) from New Hampshire, United States based Sig Sauer, Inc. The entire quantity will be delivered within 12 months of signing the contract.
The Acceptance of Necessity (AON) was accorded by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on 16th January 2018 and the case was categorised as ‘Buy (Global)’ under FTP for procurement of 72,400 assault rifles — 66,400 for the Indian Army, 2000 for the Indian Navy, 4000 for the Indian Airforce — along with accessories.
The deal costs around Rs 700 crore.
The Indian Armed Forces are presently equipped with 5.56x45mm INSAS Rifle (INdian Small Arms System). “There is an urgent requirement of replacing the in service 5.56x45 mm INSAS rifle with a 7.62x51mm assault rifle which is compact, robust, modern in technology and simple to maintain in field conditions,” read a communiqué from the government.
INSAS is a family of infantry arms consisting of an assault rifle and a light machine gun. It is manufactured by the Ordnance Factories Board at Ordnance Factory Tiruchirappalli, Small Arms Factory Kanpur and Ishapore Arsenal. The INSAS assault rifle has been the standard infantry weapon of the Indian Armed Forces.
According to SIG Sauer, one-third of US police use SIG firearms. The 7.62×51mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 7.62 NATO) is a rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge developed in the 1950s as a standard for small arms among NATO countries.
