Just ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia, the Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL), a joint venture between the two countries, has produced and transferred 35,000 Kalashnikov AK-203 assault rifles to the Indian Ministry of Defence, Rostec state corporation of Russia announced on July 5.
“The IRRPL joint venture, co-founded by Roboronexport on the Russian side, has completed the first phase of the project to produce AK-203 Kalashnikov assault rifles in India. To increase the degree of localization, all necessary equipment has been shipped to the Korwa Ordnance Factory in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh state, and production facilities are now fully equipped,” said Alexander Mikheev, Director General of Roboronexport in a statement. “This made it possible to produce and deliver a batch of 35,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles to the Indian Army within the timeframe agreed with the Ministry of Defence of India.”
Mr. Modi is scheduled to visit Russia on July 8 and 9 for the 22nd annual summit.
As reported by The Hindu in May, the initial lot has been handed over to various Army Units and the later batches are being inspected and will be handed very soon.
Army sources said that of the 35,000 delivered, 10,000 have been handed to Units while inspection of 25,000 rifles is complete and would be handed over to troops shortly. The AK-203 assault rifle is a version of the AK-200 rifle chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge.
Today India is the first foreign customer to produce the ‘two hundredth’ series of Kalashnikov assault rifles, said Sergey Chemezov, Director General of Rostec.
Under an over ₹5000 crore contract signed in July 2021, over 6.1 lakh AK-203 assault rifles are to be manufactured in India with technology transfer from Russia, by a joint venture Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL). The IRRPL was set up in 2019 between the erstwhile Ordnance Factory Board [now Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Limited (AWEIL) and Munitions India Limited (MIL)] from India and Rosoboronexport (RoE) and Kalashnikov concern of Russia.
As reported by The Hindu earlier, as per contractual terms, the first 70,000 rifles will be produced in India with a phased increase in the extent of localization from 5% to 70%. The remaining rifles will be produced with 100% localization.
As reported earlier, in the backdrop of repeated delays in concluding the deal, India had procured and inducted 70,000 Ak-103 assault rifles off the shelf under a deal signed in August 2021.
