Indian Defence Forces get the power of 10,000 SIG Sauer assault rifles; Rest to be delivered within a year

In a major boost to the Indian Defence forces in counter terrorism operations and border defence in J&K and other parts of the country, the first batch of US made SIG Sauer 716 assault rifles have been received by the army. The first lot has 10,000 rifles and another lot of similar quantity is expected to arrive soon.

Modi government had signed the Rs 700 crore deal to buy 72,400 of these rifles from the US under fast-track procurement (FTP) procedure in February this year. The rifles which have arrived have been dispatched to the Northern Command which has the responsibility to counter terrorists in J&K.

Sig Sauer is a New Hampshire-based weapons systems provider and a leading assault rifle manufacturer.

The induction of the SIG Sauer assault rifles will give extra power to the Indian troops in counter-terrorism operations in J&K and other parts of the country. Currently, the Indian Army depends on INSAS rifles for its operations which use the 5.56x45mm intermediate cartridges, while the SIG Sauer 716 use the powerful 7.62x51mm cartridges.

Ministry of Defence has informed that out of the 72 400 rifles, Indian army will get 66400, Indian Navy will get 2000 while the Indian air force will get 4000 rifles.

The Indian government has also signed a deal with Russia for 7 lakh AK-203 assault rifles which will be produced in a joint venture between the two countries. The rifles manufactured under ‘Make in India’ will give further firepower to the Indian defence forces.