Indian defence forces considering 'Made in India' carbine to meet urgent requirements

The Indian Defence forces are considering the acquisition of 'Made in India' carbine in order to meet the urgent requirement amid a tense situation on the India-China border. Government sources told news agency ANI that the carbine produced by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) at its facility in Ishapore in West Bengal has been offered to the Armed Forces, who are now evaluating it for acquisition.

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Preliminary trials of the weapon carried out

Preliminary trials of the weapon were also carried out a short while ago by officials concerned dealing with the acquisition of weapon systems for the three Armed Forces, sources revealed. If the OFB carbine is selected, it will undergo rigorous testing and initially be inducted in limited numbers only by the defence forces. The carbine is an infantry weapon used for close quarter battles for which the Indian Army has been on a lookout for many years.

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3.5 lakh carbines overall required by the Defence forces

The overall requirement of the Armed Forces is for almost 3.5 lakh carbines, however, they wanted to acquire around 94,000 of these weapons through import route under fast track procedures, ANI sources said. Further, efforts to acquire the CQB carbines since 2008 have not materialised. The initial lot of carbines acquired by the Forces is expected to be provided to troops deployed on the China front, according to the ANI report.

The scope for consideration of buying indigenous carbine came up after it started to come to light that the Defence forces would not be acquiring the carbines from a foreign country. The issue of acquiring these carbines from abroad had been stuck for close to two years now as the matter was referred to a high-level Committee for decision by the Defence Acquisition Council under the first NDA government.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi government recently cleared the second batch of the Sig Sauer assault rifles which would be provided to the troops deployed against the Chinese forces in Eastern Ladakh and other areas.
 
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(With inputs from ANI) (Representative image)