Major Firepower Upgrade: Indian Army Set To Sign Deal For 7.5 Lakh Elite AK-203 Assault Rifles

The Indian Army is set for a major firepower upgrade as it gears up to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for procurement of over 7.5 lakh units of elite AK-203 assault rifles in a month, reports The Hindu.

Of the huge order, 1 lakh rifles would be produced in Russia, while the rest 6.5 lakh units would be manufactured in India by an India-Russia joint venture (JV) based in Amethi which was launched open by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi earlier in 2019.

The JV is called the Indo-russian Rifles Pvt Ltd (IRRPL) in which the Indian Army's Ordnance factories Board (OFB) holds 50.5 per cent shareholding , with the rest being held by Russian partners.

The IRRPL is also expected to explore export of rifles produced at its facility to friendly nations as the Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had stressed during a review of the operationalisation of the factory a few months back.