Indian Army infantry soldiers will soon have one of the latest variants of legendary Kalashnikov
AK 47 rifle - the AK 203.
India will manufacture around 700,000 AK- 203 under 'Make in India' initiative with
full Transfer of Technology.
India’s Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said “The defence production corridor and
Kalashnikov rifle AK-203 next generation rifle will help India.
She added, it will be “completely indigenous and help create employment”.
The AK-203s will replace the current INSAS rifles used by the Indian armed forces.
In this video DefenseUpdates analyses why India will be manufacturing Russian designed
AK-203 & how good it is?
Let get into the details.
The Kalashnikov plant is set up in the Korwa town of Amethi district in the northeastern
state of Uttar Pradesh.
The plant is now licensed to produce AK-203s and is jointly run by India’s Ordnance Factory
Board and Russia’s Kalashnikov Concern.
Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) Director Dmitry Shugaev
told reporters, "Today, the opening of a plant manufacturing
AK-203 assault rifles at an arms factory in the Indian town of Korwa in accordance with
the agreements reached earlier at the highest level and the intergovernmental agreement
took place”.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed gratitude to Russia and President Putin for
the joint venture and mentioned that the AK-203 assault rifle will not only be a major support
to the Indian infantry but will also be a revenue earner in terms of exports to third
countries.
He added, "I express my gratitude to my friend President Vladimir Putin, this venture was
made possible in such a short time by his support”.
The Russian president, Mr. Putin a sent a letter to the official ceremony's participants
and guests, where he said that "military and technical cooperation has traditionally been
one of the key areas of special and privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India".
He added that the plant is a new symbol of friendship and constructive cooperation between
Russia and India.
INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) rifle is being used by the Indian army since 1998.
It is designed by India’s Armament Research and Development Establishment and manufactured
by Ordnance Factories Board.
INSAS is basically a hybrid, combining features of both the FAL and the AK-47.
But the result was an unreliable weapon that failed intermittently.
The rifle has many nagging issues.
Initially, the army complained that the orange colored stock and butt compromised the camouflage
of the soldiers.
More complex problems were reported later on.
During the 1999 Kargil War, when the rifles were being used in the high-attitudes of the
Himalayas they started malfunctioning.
There were complains of jamming and cracking of the plastic magazine.
Issues like the rifle firing in automatic mode though being set to 3 round burst mode
were also reported.
Some reports also suggested the there was a problem due to which oil got sprayed in
the eye of the soldier operating the rifle.
In 2005 tragedy struck.
Maoist rebels attacked a Nepalese army base.
Nepalese Army was using the INSAS acquired from India.
The rifles overheated and stopped working during the 10-hour-long battle
Because of this, the Maoists were able to overrun the base and 43 soldiers were killed.
Nepalese army Brig.
Gen. Deepak Gurung said after the battle, “Maybe the weapons we were using were not
designed for a long fight.
They malfunctioned.”
Apart from this, there was one major issue that hastened the process of replacing the
INSAS.
INSAS is equipped with 5.56×45 mm. Indian Army complained that the stopping power was
inadequate and hence a rifle capable of firing 7.62×39 mm was sought.
Keeping this in view, India initiated talks with Russia on the production of Kalashnikov
rifles in 2015.
The AK-203 is based upon AK-100 series assault rifles which, in turn, inherited it many properties
of the older AK-74 variant.
Originally “200-series” AK rifles were displayed under names such as AK-74M1, AK-101M,
AK-102M etc.
However, since 2018 these are officially designated as AK-200, AK-201 and so on until AK-205.
AK-203 weights in at 4.1 kg or 9 lbs, can fire at 600 rounds/mins and magazine has a
capacity of 30 rounds.
The basic specifications like muzzle velocity of 715 m/s & range of 350 m are more or less
same for the of AK-203 variant as its predecessors.
The AK-203 variant improves on the accuracy and ergonomics with many small but important
updates.
The front trunnion and rear sight base are redesigned to include a top cover hinge.
Also, the top cover itself is revamped with the addition of the Picatinny rail on top
and the locking mechanism at the rear.
With AK-203, Indian Army's hunt for a reliable assault rifle is expected to end soon.