Defence
India Begins Testing First Batch Of Locally-Manufactured AK-203 Assault Rifles In Amethi, Says Report
The Kalashnikov AK-203 assault rifle. (Representational image).
First batch of AK-203 rifles, made by Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL) manufacturing facility at Korwa, in Amethi district of Uttar Pradesh, has started to undergo testing, reported Russian state news agency TASS.
IRRPL is a joint venture between India and Russian defence company Kalashnikov Concern, the manufacturer of the famed AK-47 rifles.
Earlier, in January IRRPL's Korwa factory started the series production of Kalashnikov AK-203 assault rifles.
"AK-203 are produced in India according to contractual documents, their batch production has been launched. The first batch has been produced and is currently undergoing tests," Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugayev said yesterday (14 November) at the Dubai Air Show.
India has signed a deal with Russia in 2020 to buy more than 770,000 AK-203 rifles, in which more than 100,000 rifles will be directly imported from Russia, while the rest 670,000 will be manufactured in India in a factory in Korwa.
Each rifle is expected to cost around $1,100, including the cost of technology transfer and setting up the manufacturing facility.
The AK-203 is a gas-operated, magazine-fed, select fire assault rifle. This rifle can fire 7.62x39mm caliber rounds which will complement the 72,400 US-made Sig Sauer rifles already in use in the army.
Over the last two decades, the Indian Army had launched multiple attempts to procure rifles for its units but the efforts have ended in failure — at least the ones due to unrealistic requirements.
The 'Made-in-India' INSAS rifles have also not performed well in service with the army.
The induction of the AK-203 rifles will solve the army’s long-running rifle woes. The joint venture plans to ensure 100 per cent localisation of the production of AK-203 rifles in India.
IRRPL will also be able to export AK-203 to other countries.
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