When the Special Forces of the Indian Army carried out “surgical strikes” in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir last September, they were armed with the deadly made-in-Israel Tavor-21 and Galil assault rifles. However, the next time they undertake such an operation, they could be equipped with the same weapons, but made in India.
Indian firm Punj Lloyd and Israeli Weapons Industry (IWI) have signed a joint venture to produce these rifles under a new joint venture facility at Malanpur, Madhya Pradesh, says a media report.
“We are making the whole range of IWI weapon systems at the facility here including the Tavor-21 and Galil assault rifles along with the Negev Light Machine Guns, Galil sniper rifles and the X-95 close quarter carbine rifles here. We would be offering all the types of weapons required by the armed forces,” the report quoted Ashok Wadhawan, in-charge of Punj Llyod's defence manufacturing business, as saying.
The new joint venture has been named as PunjLloyd Rakhsa Systems (PRS).
Explaining the capabilities at the new facility, Wadhawan said that all the guns to be supplied to Indian forces in future will be fully made in India.
For the creation of the new facility, IWI has helped in setting up machines in the plant exactly the same as they have in the facility near Tel Aviv.
According to the report, the manufacturing facility will also have testing and firing range in the next few weeks where the weapons could be tested before they are dispatched for supply.
The joint venture comes at a time when along with the Army, the IAF and the Navy are also looking to equip themselves with assault rifles - both for their special forces as well as normal ground troops.
However, the Army would be the biggest potential customer for the weapons produced by the facility as the force is looking to procure more than 1.85 lakh assault rifles to replace the existing inventory of homegrown INSAS rifles who have not been up to the mark in terms of performance.
Furthermore, the Army is also planning to procure over 3,500 sniper rifles for the Ghatak platoons and special forces. It has also issued a new tender for acquiring 44,837 close quarter carbines for dealing with anti-terrorist operations.
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