NEW DELHI - The Indian government is re-launching a global tender for a new-generation standard issue assault rifle to replace the Indian Army's glitch-prone, the domestically-made INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) 5.56mm assault rifle. This promises to be a mega-project for India as it seeks an initial batch of 65,000 rifles to be followed by another 1.2 million produced in India under license.
The multi-billion-dollar program follows in the wake of an earlier failed tender launched in November 2011 that was eventually scrapped in May-June 2015 after the Indian Army claimed that none of the bidders could meet the qualitative requirements of its tender. The fundamental issue was an overly ambitious requirement that the rifle have interchangeable barrels, with the 5.56x45mm primary barrel to serve in conventional warfare missions while a 7.62x39mm secondary barrel would be utilized in counterterrorism actions.
This time the requirement is for a 7.62 x 51mm assault rifle that can also be fitted with a 40mm under-barrel grenade launcher manufactured locally by the ordnance factor in Trichy. The request for information (RFI) issued by the Indian Ministry of Defense on September 27 calls for the new rifles to be "state of the art" in terms of design, metallurgy and performance parameters with the expectation that the new weapon will remain technically capable and relevant for the next 25-30 years.
A request for proposals (RFP) for formal commercial bids is to be issued in April 2017.
You have 0 item(s) in your cart