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Domestic firms worried over small arms imports
Why is it in news?
- Indian Army is taking a decision to order another 72,400 assault rifles from Sig Sauer of the U.S.
- The domestic small arms manufacturers have expressed concern over continuing imports and asking for a level playing field to showcase their products.
Arguments of Domestic Manufacturers:
- There are Indian companies which can now make small arms with over 50% indigenous content and we can match the price and timelines.
- Indian companies are not considered for deals through Fast Track Procurement (FTP), which is limited to foreign vendors currently.
Other Deals of India:
- Light Machine Guns (LMG): The Ministry of Defence (MoD) signed a ₹880-crore contract with the Israeli Weapon Industries (IWI) for 16,479 Light Machine Guns (LMG).
- SIG-716 Assault Rifles: The Army has recently begun inducting the first batch of 10,000 SIG-716 assault rifles. The rifles are being procured under a contract signed in February 2019 with Sig Sauer of the U.S. for 72,400 SIG-716 assault rifles worth over ₹700 crore.
- AK-203 Assault Rifles: The Army is also close to signing the final deal for the procurement of over 7.5 lakh AK-203 assault rifles. Most of these rifles would be manufactured locally by an India-Russia Joint Venture (JV) under technology transfer.