Indian Army Takes Delivery Of 27,000 Locally-Made AK-203 Assault Rifles

The Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL) has delivered close to 27,000 AK-203 assault rifles to the Indian Army.

Furthermore, an additional 8,000 rifles will be delivered to the army in the next two weeks.

IRRPL is a joint venture between Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Limited (AWEIL) [erstwhile Ordnance Factory Board (OFB)] and Russian defence major, Kalashnikov Concern, the manufacturer of the famed AK-47 rifles.

This delivery comes six months after India started testing the first batch of locally-made AK-203 rifles in IRRPL's manufacturing facility in Korwa, Amethi.

India signed a deal with Russia in 2020 to buy more than 770,000 AK-203 rifles in July 2021 worth Rs 5,000 crore, under which more than 100,000 rifles will be directly imported from Russia, while the remaining 670,000 will be manufactured in India at the factory in Korwa.

Each rifle is expected to cost around $1,100, including the cost of technology transfer and setting up the manufacturing facility.

In January last year, IRRPL's Korwa factory started a series production of these rifles.

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. The new AK rifles will replace older 'made-in-India' INSAS rifles, which have not performed well in service with the Army.

The joint venture plans to ensure 100 percent localisation of the production of AK-203 rifles in India.

According to reports, the indigenisation level achieved in these batches is around 25 per cent, which is expected to progressively increase to 70 per cent in the next two years, until the initial 70,000 rifles are delivered.

The remaining 600,000 rifles will have 100 per cent localised content.

Due to a deadlock over price negotiations and COVID-19-related shutdowns, the delivery of these rifles has seen repeated delays. In the interim, India placed an order for the direct import of 70,000 AK-103 rifles in August 2021.