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The Indian Army has been diversifying its small arms inventory, as part of an attempt to phase out its aging assault rifles and light machine guns.
The Indian domestically-produced Small Arms System (INSAS) has been in use since 1998.
Over the past two years, India purchased nearly 150,000 US-made SIG 715 model rifles, chambered in 7.62mm NATO. Sig Sauer had announced the latest deal last July.
The Indian Army will also receive the Kalashnikov AK-203, which is being produced as part of a joint venture with Russia’s Kalashnikov Concern and India’s Amethi ordnance factory.
Russia’s state arms seller Rosoboronexport, which is part of the state tech corporation Rostec, has prepared a contract for signing with India on the delivery of the latest 7.62x39mm AK-203 assault rifles, according to Tass New Agency. Tass noted that compared to the baseline AK-203 version, the variant being produced for India has a fixed side-folding stock, but is otherwise similar in design to the version being employed by the Russian military.
This marked the first time that Rosoboronexport publicly demonstrated the AK-203 assault rifle designated for the Indian Army.
According to nationalinterest.org, the assault rifle weighs 3.8 kg empty, and it has a rate of fire of 700 rounds per minute and is accurate to a range of 800 meters. The AK-203 assault rifle designed for the Indian Amy features a 415mm barrel and it is equipped with a Picatinny rail, which can be used with a variety of sights or scopes as well as flashlight and other equipment.
