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Army to sign MoU for AK-203 assault rifles in a month
Why is it in news?
- The Army is likely to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in a month for the procurement of over 7.5 lakh AK-203 assault rifles.
More in news
- Joint venture between India and Russia
(1) The rifles will be manufactured by the Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL) at Korwa in Uttar Pradesh.
(2) The facility is being set up between the Ordnance Factories Board (OFB) from the Indian side, and Rosoboron Exports and Kalashnikov on the Russian side.
(3) The OFB owns 50.5% equity and Russian side holds the remaining 49.5%.
(4) The JV was formed following the Inter-governmental Agreement between India and Russia in February 2019.
- Other small arms from US
(1) The Army recently began inducting the first batch of 10,000 SIG-716 assault rifles.
(2) Troops engaged in counter insurgency operations in the Army’s Northern Command have started receiving these rifles.
(3) The rifles are being procured under a contract signed in February 2019 with Sig Sauer of the U.S. for 72,400 SIG-716 assault rifles worth over Rs. 700 crore.
Source
The Hindu