Contract signed for 72,400 rifles

New Delhi, February 12

The Ministry of Defence today signed a contract to get 72,400 new assault rifles from US arms-maker SIG Sauer. 

The company will supply the entire lot of its ‘SiG716’ rifles within 12 months. These will replace the indigenous INSAS assault rifles. 

Off these rifles, 66,400 are meant for the Army, 4,000 for the IAF and the rest 2,000 for the Navy. The rifles, chambered for the 7.62x51 mm round (bullet), are being used by the US forces as well as several other European countries. 

The overall requirement is for 6,50,000 new automatic assault rifles for the infantry units of the Army. India is also in talks with Russia to license-produce the AK-series assault rifle in one of the three Indian ordnance factories. — TNS