The Author is Former Director General of Information Systems and A Special Forces Veteran, Indian Army

It was covered in these columns on February 21, 2019 that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had signed a contract with the US firm Sig Sauer on February 5, 2019, to procure 72,400 7.62x51mm SIG-716 assault rifles having an effective kill range of 500 metres (66,400 for the Army, 2,000 for the Navy and 4,000 for the IAF) under the fast-track procurement route. The fast track procurement of the Sig assault rifles was approved by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by the Defence Minister one year earlier on January 16, 2018.

Under the 647-crore deal, Sig Sauer was to deliver the assault rifles within one year through the foreign military sales (FMS) route. These rifles were to replace the indigenous (5.56 x 45mm) INSAS rifles that our Ordnance Factories Board (OFB) took 15 years to produce after being provided 17 assault rifles from 11 countries, and which was nowhere close to the top 10 assault rifles available off the shelf in that category globally.

On August 28, 2024, India signed a new deal to import 73,000 additional Sig Sauer assault rifles from the US, supplementing the 72,400 rifles previously acquired for the Army. This repeat order, valued at ₹837 crore, is intended for frontline troops along the China and Pakistan borders amid rising tensions and the continuing India-China standoff along the 4,057-km long Line of Actual Control (LAC).

On August 28, 2024, India signed a new deal to import 73,000 additional Sig Sauer assault rifles from the US, supplementing the 72,400 rifles previously acquired for the Army.

There has been considerable blame game against the Army on social media with accusations that it prefers importing weapons instead of accepting indigenous products. But our vintage 5.56 INSAS rifles are hardly state-of-the-art and troops deployed in glaciated areas keep an AK-47 at hand which has no stoppages compared to the INSAS. But the repeat order for the Sig-716 assault rifles to equip infantry battalions deployed along the borders with China and Pakistan was forced because of inordinate delays in the production of the AK-203 assault rifles by the Indo-Russian joint venture (JV) called Indo-Russia Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL).

The AK-203 project was first announced in 2018 and inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2019. But the project was hit by huge delays due to costing, royalty, technology transfer, indigenisation level and other issues. In all, 6,00,000 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 Navy and the IAF. The first 35,000 AK-203 assault rifles were finally delivered to the Army earlier this year after being assembled at the Korwa IRRPL ordnance factory in Amethi District of Uttar Pradesh.

The AK-203 assault rifles project by the Indo-Russian joint venture (IRRPL), announced in 2018, has faced delays due to issues related to costing, royalty, technology transfer, and indigenisation levels.

According to media reports of September 8, 2024, a ₹12,000 crore contract by the MoD for the purchase of close-quarter carbine guns for the Indian Army has run into rough weather after IRRPL was not allowed to participate in the field trials on "financial grounds". This company has pointed out ambiguities in the tender document, which are attributed to mistakes made by officials in the MoD during the preparation and execution of the tender. The company claims that these issues have affected the fairness of the selection process.

This has led to the IRRPL filing a case in the Delhi High Court, which has now issued notices to MoD and listed the matter for October 21, 2024. It has applied for the bid through its authorised Indian vendor, BSS Material Private Limited. The company has also filed representation with the Prime Minister's Office and the Chief Vigilance Commission highlighting the "untenable" and "ambiguous" grounds on which they were not allowed to participate in the trials despite offering, what they claim, is the "best gun" at the "lowest price" among all its competitors. However, their guns could not be evaluated on these two parameters because they were not allowed to participate in the trial.

A ₹12,000 crore contract for close-quarter carbine guns for the Indian Army has run into issues, with IRRPL being excluded from trials on financial grounds.

The proposal for close quarter carbines was first floated in May 2017 and the final request for proposal (RFP) was released in November 2022 for 4,25,213 unit carbines for the Indian Army. IRRPL, which had offered the AK-19 (K) based on the AK-12 (recently introduced in the Russian military) was told in December 2023 by the Technical Evaluation Committee that they were not eligible for participating in the bid because of not meeting the set guideline for average turnover and net worth, while referring to the financials of the authorised vendor.

As per the tender documents, AK-19 (K) was especially developed for this specific tender, and for India, BSS the local vendor of IRRPL was able to get a "special" price of ₹1,27,700 (plus taxes) per unit from the manufacturers for this tender, apart from a service life of 15 years or 15,000 rounds. The said price was $720 less than the current price of AK-19 (K). The price of the export version of AK-19 (K) is otherwise quoted to be $2,750 for a minimum 1,00,000 units.

Hopefully, the above court case between the IRRPL and the MoD for the close quarter carbines will be amicably resolved, otherwise it could adversely affect the future production of AK-203 assault rifles as well.