India inks another deal for 73,000 assault rifles from the US

NEW DELHI: India has now inked another contract for the import of an additional 73,000 SiG Sauer assault rifles from the US, which will add to the 72,400 such guns bought earlier for frontline Army troops, amid the continuing military confrontation with China in eastern Ladakh.
“The SiG-716 `Patrol’ rifles, which are 7.62x51mm caliber guns with an effective ‘kill’ range of 500-metre, are meant for infantry battalions deployed along the borders with China and Pakistan.It is a repeat order valued at Rs 837 crore,” a source told TOI on Tuesday.
The delay in the manufacture of Russian AK-203 Kalashnikov rifles in India had led to the import of the first lot of 72,400 SiG-716 rifles (66,400 for the Army, 4,000 IAF and 2,000 Navy) under a Rs 647 crore contract inked with US firm SiG Sauer under the fast-track procurement route in Feb 2019.
Also read: India, US ink pacts to boost defence-industrial cooperation, supply chain resilience & military liaison
The Rajnath Singh-led Defence Acquisitions Council (DAC) had given the nod for the procurement for the additional 73,000 SiG-716 rifles in Dec last year. Parallelly, the Army is also buying 40,949 light machine guns, which were cleared by the DAC in Aug 2023 at an estimated cost of Rs 2,165 crore.
On the assault rifles front, the first 35,000 Kalashnikov AK-203s were finally delivered to the Army earlier this year after being assembled at the Korwa ordnance factory in Amethi district of UP under the joint venture called Indo-Russia Rifles Private Limited.
In all, six lakh AK-203 rifles have to be manufactured at the Korwa factory over 10 years. These 7.62x39 mm caliber rifles, with an effective range of 300-metre, are supposed to cater to the overall needs of the over 11-lakh strong Army as well as the IAF and Navy.
The AK-203 project was first announced in 2018 but was hit by huge delays due to costing, royalty, technology transfer, indigenisation level and other issues, as was earlier reported by TOI.
Also read: Eye on China & Pakistan, India fast-tracks deal for 31 US 'hunter-killer' drones
The Army in the past has dismissed reports of glitches in the SiG-716 rifles, stressing that the US-origin rifles have “longer effective range, more lethality and higher recoil” as compared to the indigenous INSAS (5.56x51 mm) or AK-47 rifles.

The Army says it has been using ammunition manufactured by Indian ordnance factories for the SiG-716 rifles. “The rifles are also fitted with Picatinny rails to facilitate mounting of various equipment and accessories, such as optical sights, UBGL (under-barrel grenade launchers), forehand grips, bipods and laser pointers, without any modifications,” an officer said.