The Indian Army has rejected the home-made 7.62 x 51 mm assault rifles, which were meant to replace AK-47s and Insas rifles, because of poor quality and ineffective fire power, PTI reported on Wednesday. The military is likely to take a fresh call on procuring similar weapons soon.
This is the second year in a row that the Army has rejected an India-made weaponry. In 2016, the armed forces had refused the use of indigenously-built 5.56 mm Excalibur guns – another variety of assault rifles – after they failed to meet the required standards.
The guns, built by the Ishapore Rifle Factory, were rejected by the Army after they miserably failed firing tests last week. There were “excessive number of faults” in the guns and “complete redesigning of the magazine” was needed to consider them to be used by the Army, officials said.
The Army observed “excessive flash and sound signature” in the rifles during the trials. Officials said the rifles had a number of faults and stoppages, which was more than 20 times the maximum permissible standard.
A high-level meeting is likely to be held on Thursday to decide about procurement of assault rifles for the armed forces. The meeting will be attended by representatives of the Army, Air Force and Navy, besides top officials of the Defence Ministry. The representatives are likely to discuss the specifications required for the assault rifles.
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