Army set to speed up purchase of assault rifles for 1L soldiers
NEW DELHI: The army plans to equip around one lakh soldiers with new assault rifles by invoking a clause in India’s arms buying rules that governs speeding up of purchases to meet “urgent operational requirements,” said a senior officer.
After a series of failed efforts to equip soldiers with the basic weapon, the army has now pinned its hopes on buying around 1,00,000 assault rifles this year through the fast track procedure (FTP) prescribed in the Defence Procurement Procedure, 2016.
The army has mapped out a three-pronged approach to meet its requirement of 7.7 lakh assault rifles. The new assault rifles will replace the flaw-ridden 5.56mm INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) rifles that were inducted more than two decades ago and according to officials, have outlived their usefulness.
The army has revised the caliber of the new assault rifles to the more lethal 7.62mm instead of 5.56mm and is also making renewed efforts to buy more than 54,000 light machine guns and 44,618 carbines.
Experts said the army’s casualties in counter-terror operations could be reduced by half if soldiers were provided better assault rifles.
“Broadly speaking, we intend to meet up to 15% (1.15 lakh rifles) of our requirement through the FTP. The Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and the private sector will be involved in two separate programmes to supply the remaining numbers,” said another officer tracking the project.
ACCORDING TO EXPERTS, ARMY’S CASUALTIES IN COUNTERTERROR OPS COULD BE REDUCED BY HALF IF SOLDIERS WERE GIVEN BETTER RIFLES
Up to 25% of the army’s requirement could be met by the OFB and a lion’s share, close to 60%, is likely to fulfilled by the private sector, he said. The officer did not give the exact numbers, choosing to speak only in percentage terms.
The FTP can be invoked in cases where “undue/unforeseen delay” in buying weapons is seen to be adversely impacting the military’s capacity and preparedness. According to rules, weapons sought under the FTP should already be in the military’s armoury, undergone trial evaluation or be in service in foreign militaries so that the time required for evaluation is minimised.
The FTP route to meet urgent operational requirements has to be authorised by a special defence acquisition council’s (DAC) meeting chaired by the defence minister based on a proposal approved by a service chief, paving the way for issuing a tender.
The army had moved a case to buy assault rifles more than a decade ago. It was forced to retract a tender for the rifles in June 2015 as none of the weapons met the force’s requirements during trials. The army has revised and finalised the qualitative requirements for the new assault rifles and will seek the DAC “acceptance of necessity” for the weapon under the fast track procedure.