Night sight for handheld arms

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 20

In a move that will enhance the war-fighting ability of the Army, almost all handheld weapons will have night-sights, enabling troops to spot a terrorist or enemy during night.

The Army plans Rs21,492 crore project to provide such state-of-the-art night-sighting abilities on Light Machine Guns (36,100); rocket launchers (15,000); Medium Machine Guns (5,000) and another 1,50,000 handheld weapons of various types. In the first tranche, the Army has floated the Request for Information (RFI) and has asked night sights on Light Machine Guns (LMGs). This will soon be followed by the remaining tenders. The Army estimates that a sum of Rs21,492 crore will be spent over the next 4-5 years to have night-sights on such weapons.

Once done, this will give an edge to troops located in terrorism-hit areas. At present, the night-vision device is hand held and not attached to the weapon.

The Army is looking at providing the desired performance across all spectrum of employment in the Indian terrain and climatic conditions. The Army wants these sights mounted on the ‘Picatinny rail’, also known as MIL-STD-1913 rail.

In the past, Army has asked for night sights on the AK-47 assault rifles.