The approval for the procurement was given at a high-level meeting of the Defence Ministry held recently and attended by the top brass of the military. This also came after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh-headed Defence Acquisition Council gave the nod to the proposal last week.

The approval for the Indian Army to buy more than 70,000 of these assault rifles worth over Rs 800 crore has come at a time when the forces are deployed in a military standoff with China and are carrying out extensive counterterrorism operations along the line of control in Jammu and Kashmir against Pakistan-sponsored terrorist activities.

India has already indicted over 70,000 of these American-made assault rifles, which are being used by forces in the Ladakh sector along the China front and also in Kashmir valley.

Prior to this, the government had inked an agreement to procure 72,400 Sig Sauer assault rifles in 2019 worth Rs 694 crore. These rifles will be replacing the indigenous (5.56 x 45 mm) INSAS rifles.


Longer range and better operational ease are the reasons for the repeat order. Besides, it is also meant for 'shoot to kill'.

Currently, the Indian Armed Forces -- Army, Navy and Air Force -- need a total of 8.1 lakh combat rifles of which the Indian Army alone needs 7.6 lakh rifles. Out of the 72,400 SiG-716 rifles procured in 2019, the Indian Army received 66,400 rifles while the Air Force and Indian Navy received 4000 and 2,000 rifles respectively.

It is also reportedly more lethal than the INSAS Rifle or the AK-47 and its variants in the service. The Indian forces are also going to soon get the AK-203 being produced by the joint venture between two companies in the ordnance factory near Amethi.

Indian forces have recently also acquired the Russian AK-103 in significant numbers to bolster their capabilities against terrorists and for conventional operations.