An empowered committee comprising senior army officers is now visiting some foreign countries to identify suitable manufacturers for supplying assault rifles and carbines. The Defence Acquisition Council(DAC) in January this year had given its nod for procurement of 72,400 assault rifles and 93,985 carbines for infantry soldiers on fast track basis. The total cost of the two projects is about Rs 3,547 crores.
The Army team headed by two brigadiers and nine other officials is touring Australia, South Korea, UAE, Israel and USA to identify suitable vendor. Once the contract is signed after identifying the vendor, supplies will start within a year, officials said here on Tuesday. The team left this weekend.
Giving the specifications for short-listing the proposed vendor or vendors, they said the Army needs a carbine which can hit a target at 200 metres and should not weigh more than three kilos. It is essentially a close quarter battle used for anti-terrorist and anti-insurgency operations.
As regards the new assault rifle which will replace the current standard issue INSAS rifle, officials said the rifle should have an effective range of 500 metres and should weigh four kilos. These rifles are used for offensive and defensive operations. Infantry soldiers guarding the frontiers including line of Actual Control(lAC) with China and line of Control(loC) in Jammu and Kashmir need these weapons to fight a conventional battle at long range besides tackling militancy.
For over a decade, the Army has been urging the government to go in for modernization of small arms or personal weapons of infantry which fights the actual battle on ground. However, due to various reasons no decision could be taken. Once the new assault rifles and carbines are inducted, they will enhance the firepower capabilities of the infantry in modern day battle scenario, they said.
Apart from procurement of these select number of assault rifles and carbines to meet the urgent critical requirement, the DAC in February also accorded approval for procurement of 41, 000 light Machine Guns(lMG) and over 3.5 lakh Carbines under Buy and Make (Indian) category.
Out of total quantities envisaged, 75 percent will be through Indian Industry under ‘Buy & Make (Indian)’ category and balance through Ordnance Factory Board(OFB). The earmarked quantity for the OFB has been kept to optimally utilise their infrastructure and capacity, as well as provide a window for assimilation of critical technologies towards building indigenous capability in small arms manufacturing. The total cost for procurement of Carbines and lMGs for the soldiers of the three Services is Rs 4,607 crore and Rs 3,000 crore respectively.