Agency.After being part of Indian army for almost two decades,indigenously manufactured INSAS rifles will be finally replaced by an imported assault rifle which will be manufactured in India at a later stage.
The Indian Small Arms System (INSAS) was inducted in the army in 1988. Army used INSAS along the borders and in counter-insurgency operations. Official sources indicated that it is likely to be replaced with more deadlier assault rifles of higher caliber (7.62×51).
The sources told that as many as 18 vendors, including some Indian companies having a tie-up with a foreign arms manufacturing firm, have sent in their consent to replace nearly two lakh such rifles.
According to experts,the reason behind the phasing out of INSAS that the weapon was not effective at long range and at best, it could only maim the enemy.
The sources also revealed that 7.62×51 assault rifles have already been introduced in the Pakistani army which purchased them from Heckler and Koch, one of the world’s leading small arms manufacturers based in Germany.
The proposal for the procurement of new assault rifles was in pre-Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) stage and is expected to be completed by the year end.