AK 203 Assault rifle deal: First batch of 70,000 rifles added to the military by Russia

The defense forces have acquired the primary batch of 70,000 rifles from Russia as a part of a bigger agreement to produce the AK 203 attack rifles in India. The preliminary batch has been delivered swiftly as asked by India, in spite of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sources stated that the primary batch is possibly to be utilized by the air force, even as the rifles to be manufactured on the Amethi manufacturing facility might be added to the army, that’s the primary user with a demand of over 600,000 AK 203s.

The rifles are being manufactured with a complete technology transfer clause with a purpose to additionally allow India to export them to overseas countries in the near future. The production might be performed via way of means of the Indo Russian Rifles Private Limited Joint Venture among Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Ltd (erstwhile OFB) and Russian Rosoboronexport.

The ‘5,124-crore deal is the biggest defense deal signed among India and Russia recently. The Russian government has given a commitment that the production with technology transfer will begin inside to 3 years, with technical groups being despatched to help India.

The Korwa Rifle Factory in Amethi is being upgraded with a present-day manufacturing line in which today’s model of the Kalashnikov rifles is to be manufactured.

Author

  • Shantanu K. Bansal

    Founder of IADN. He has more than 10 years of experience in research and analysis. An award winning researcher, he writes for the leading defence and security journals, think-tanks and in-service publications. He is a senior consultant at the Indian Army Training Command (ARTRAC), Shimla. Contact him at: Shantanukbansal2@gmail.com

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