Indian Army to buy 72000 Sig Sauer 716 advance American Assault Rifles from US

India is acquiring the advanced assault rifles to boost its counter-terrorism operations under the fast-track procurement programme. The new assault rifles will replace the existing INSAS 5.56x45mm rifles put in use by the forces currently and manufactured by Ordinance Factories Board.

“We are going to place an order for 72,000 more of these rifles under the financial powers granted to the armed forces,” Defence sources told ANI.

As per the plan, around 1.5 lakh imported rifles were to be used by the troops in the counter-terrorism operations and frontline duties on the Line of Control (LoC), the remaining forces would be provided with the AK-203 rifles, which are to be produced jointly by India and Russia at Amethi ordnance factory.

The work on the project is yet to start due to several procedural issues faced by the two sides. The Indian Army had been trying to replace their standard INSAS assault rifles for many years but the attempts failed due to one reason or the other.

Recently, the Defence Ministry placed an order of 16,000 light machine guns (LMGs) from Israel to do away with the shortage of these guns.