India to acquire new carbines and light machine guns, re-issues RFI

The Caracal CAR816 5.56x45mm carbine from UAE's Caracal Group was among those considered by India for its 5.56x45mm CQB Carbine competition. Photo c/o Caracal Group.



India Ministry of Defence has released another Request for Information (RFI) to lndian arms manufacturers on 4 January 2019, after releasing similar queries in 2017 and 2018. A reply was requested to be made by 4 February 2019.

India plans to purchase 360,000 units of 5.56x45mm close quarter battle (CQB) carbines, and 40,000 units of 7.62x51mm light machine guns under the “Buy and Make” program of the Indian government, which will be issued to the Indian armed forces.

This appears to be in addition to earlier plans to locally manufacture 600,000 units of Russia’s Kalasknikov AK-103 7.62x39mm rifle, and an earlier procurement plan for 94,000 5.56x45mm CQB cabines from UAE’s Caracal and 72,000 7.62x51mm battle rifles from America’s SIG Sauer.

These rifles are intended to replace the locally made INSAS 5.56x45mm which were considered as problematic due to design and quality flaws, and older Kalashnikov AK-47 7.62x39mm rifles that have been in service with the Indian armed forces for several decades.



[1] IHS Jane’s
[2] India Today
[3] LiveFist Defence
[4] The Economic Times


India to acquire new carbines and light machine guns, re-issues RFI India to acquire new carbines and light machine guns, re-issues RFI Reviewed by Asia Pacific Defense Journal on January 17, 2019 Rating: 5

1 comment

  1. Should have simply gone for AK-103 all along as their main service rifle, and then arm the special ops with whatever 5.56 they want. At least AKs are a known quantity from a reliable supplier.

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