Once again, Army starts global hunt for a new-generation assault
rifle
Deal
Likely To Be Worth Over $1Billion
India
re-launched on Tuesday its global hunt for new-generation assault rifles after
similar attempts over the last decade failed due to unrealistic technical
requirements and whiff of corruption, interspersed by debates on whether the
gun should “kill“ or merely “wound“ adversaries.
The
project is going to be a mega one, with the Army looking to induct 65,000
rifles in the first go, with another 1,20,000 to be manufactured in India.
This, of course, would be just the beginning for the 12-lakh strong Army , with
the overall programme cost slated to ultimately cross the $1 billion-mark.
In the
RFI (request for information) issued by the defence ministry on Tuesday , it
was mentioned that the Army was seeking “a 7.62mm x 51mm assault rifle with
lethality to achieve the objective of shoot-to-kill“ to replace glitchprone
5.56mm INSAS (Indian small arms system) rifle.
The broad
parameters specify the light-weight rifles should have an effective range of
500-metre at the very minimum, with duly-optimised recoil to achieve “accuracy
better than three minutes of angle up to a mini mum range of 500-metre“.
With
multi-option telescopic sights, the rifles should also be capable of being
fitted with the 40mm under-barrel grenade launchers manufactured by ordnance
factory , Trichy . Compatible with visible laser-target pointers, holographic
and other sights, the rifles should be “state-ofart“ in terms of design,
metallurgy and performance parameters to remain relevant for the next 25-30
years.
The RFI
states the global tender or RFP (request for proposal) for the formal
technocommercial bids will be floated in April 2017. It is bound to attract
companies like Colt (US), Beretta (Italy), Sig Sauer (Europe), Ceska (Czech)
and Israel Weapon Industries (IWI), which had also participated in the earlier
tender.
As was
first reported by TOI in May last year, the project was scrapped because of the
Army's overambitious experiment to induct rifles with interchangeable barrels,
with a 5.56x45mm primary barrel for conventional warfare and a 7.62x39mm
secondary one for counter-terrorism.
Then, the
Army commanders' conference last April had discussed whether the force required
a 7.62mm rifle that “killed“ or a 5.56mm rifle that “incapacitated“ enemy
soldiers. Subsequently , even as the Army rejected the 5.56x45mm Excalibur
rifle offered by the DRDO-ordnance Factory Board combine, the decision was
taken to go in for 7.62x51mm rifles with a higher kill probability .
Incidentally,
other projects to get new close-quarter battle carbines, light machine guns,
sniper rifles and the like for infantry battalions are also stuck in the
long-winded procurement process.
(TOI)
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