From assault to sniper rifles, machine guns to carbines, soldiers yet to get basic infantry weapons

Indian Army's foot soldiers are still nowhere close to getting basic modern infantry weapons, ranging from assault rifles and sniper guns to light machine guns and close-quarter battle carbines, after a decade of acquisition projects from abroad being repeatedly scrapped as well as failure of indigenous options to pass muster till now.

The huge delays in the induction of "small arms" for infantry battalions figured in the Army commanders' conference last week, with Gen Bipin Rawat telling his senior Lt-Generals that "our approach to procurement process needs to be balanced with focus at the right places".

Though plans are now on track to plug major operational gaps in artillery guns, air defence missiles and helicopters, "small arms" remain a big worry. As per overall plans, the 12-lakh strong Army needs 8,18,500 new-generation assault rifles, 4,18,300 close-quarter battle (CQB) carbines, 43,700 light machine guns and 5,679 sniper rifles. All these figures also include some weapons for the much-smaller IAF and Navy, say sources.

But all these induction plans, which are supposed to include direct purchase of an initial number of weapons from a foreign vendor followed by large-scale indigenous production with technology transfer, have failed to materialize so far.

In September 2016, for instance, the Army was forced to re-launch its global hunt for new-generation 7.62 x 51mm assault rifles to replace the old glitch-prone 5.56mm INSAS (Indian small arms system) rifles after similar bids over the last decade were scrapped due to corruption scandals, unrealistic technical requirements and change in caliber of the desired guns, as was first reported by TOI.

Sources say the technical parameters or GSQRs (general staff qualitative requirements) for the new assault rifles, with an effective range of 500-metre, have now been finalized. "The case will now be moved for the defence ministry's approval under the `Buy & Make (Indian)' model before the formal tender or RFP (request for proposal) is floated," said a source.

Simultaneously, the Army is testing prototypes of a 7.62mm x 51mm rifle developed by Rifle Factory Ishapore after it held the 5.56mm Excalibur rifle did not meet its requirements of a "higher kill probability".

 timesofindia