Gearing up its soldiers for future warfare, the Army feels there is an “urgent need” to replace the indigenously developed and manufactured Insas series of rifles.
“There is an urgent need to develop rifles, carbines and light machine guns of 5.56 mm calibre to replace the existing Insas class of weapons,” it said in the defence ministry’s Technology Perspective and Capability Roadmap’ document.
The Insas rifles, designed by the DRDO, were inducted into the Armed forces in the 90s and have been used in the Kargil war and counter-insurgency operations also.
In its early days with the Army, the rifles faced reliability problems in the cold climate in places such as Kashmir Valley and Siachen glacier.
Due to the cold weather, the rifles would jam occasionally and the polymer magazines would crack. These problems were later corrected by the manufacturers.
To do away with the problems posed by the indigenous rifles, the Army wants that “the hall mark of new weapons should be reliability, robustness, night firing capabilities and modular cum inter changeable parts.
—PTI