In past Indian Army has issued and cancelled of lot of RPF especially related to Standard Issue Rifles. One of the issues DRDO & ARDE have faced during the development of indigenous rifles is that IA has changed its requirements from time to time.
During 80's army asked DRDO to develop 5.56x45 caliber rifles which was the preferred caliber for standard issue rifles at that time to replace its old SLR rifles which used 7.62 mm ammunition. Then DRDO came up with the Insas Rifle which was made as per army's drafted requirements (5.56x45mm, single and burst fire only,transparent magazines etc) and the rifle was tested and accepted into the forces.
But like every rifle built earlier versions of the rifle had its share of issues and to this army openly criticised DRDO for not being able to provide a good rifle & pointed towards the shortcomings of Insas but as explained in my post "A GOOD INDIGENOUS ASSAULT RIFLE STILL A DREAM FOR INDIAN ARMY?"(LINK TO THE POST) I have shown how the problems which were present in earlier variants of Insas (1 & 1b) have been rectified in 1b1 and 2b versions and have also compared it side by side to other rifles and showed that the reliability and other issues which were in earlier variants no-longer exist.
The army was still not satisfied with the rifle and kept criticising the rifle (this is partially because a large number of earlier variants (1 & 1b) are still in use in service) to which DRDO in 2006 offered to a entirely new modern rifle EXCALIBUR which was based on Insas but was free of issues but army was reluctant in testing the rifle.
Indian Army issued a tender for assault rifles in 2011 and multiple world leading gun manufacturing firms participated with the best rifles they had to offer but no rifle was able to fulfill the requirements of Indian Army & pass the stringent tests. The tender was later scrapped in 2015 and Army accepted that the requirements it had quoted were not practical and that it is nearly impossible for any weapon to fulfill the quoted requirements.
When no foreign rifle was able to pass the tests the EXCALIBUR was made to undergo the same tests & amazingly it passed all the tests, but as it has done in past army once again changed the requirements and DUMPED THE EXCALIBUR RIFLE stating that it wasn't lethal enough for CT operations because it used 5.56x45 mm rounds (ironically its the caliber they earlier wanted). Army now wanted a rifle with 7.62x39 mm rounds like AK-47 which they said was more effective while fighting the terrorists.
ALTHOUGH DURING THE END OF 2016 ARMY ACCEPTED EXCALIBUR AS THE INTERIM RIFLE till it finds a suitable modern rifle. I reported this in post "ARMY TO INDUCT EXCALIBUR AS AN INTERIM RIFLE".
Also DRDO is currently working on 7.62x39 mm version of Excalibur which they call Excalibur AR 2.
FUTURE-
As per the latest news, army has issued yet another RFP for modern assault rifles but what is new is that the caliber now requested is not 7.62x39 mm but insanely big 7.62x51 (with respect to assault rifles).
The army has yet again changed the requirements.
During 80's army asked DRDO to develop 5.56x45 caliber rifles which was the preferred caliber for standard issue rifles at that time to replace its old SLR rifles which used 7.62 mm ammunition. Then DRDO came up with the Insas Rifle which was made as per army's drafted requirements (5.56x45mm, single and burst fire only,transparent magazines etc) and the rifle was tested and accepted into the forces.
But like every rifle built earlier versions of the rifle had its share of issues and to this army openly criticised DRDO for not being able to provide a good rifle & pointed towards the shortcomings of Insas but as explained in my post "A GOOD INDIGENOUS ASSAULT RIFLE STILL A DREAM FOR INDIAN ARMY?"(LINK TO THE POST) I have shown how the problems which were present in earlier variants of Insas (1 & 1b) have been rectified in 1b1 and 2b versions and have also compared it side by side to other rifles and showed that the reliability and other issues which were in earlier variants no-longer exist.
Insas 1b1on left & 2b on right hand side
The army was still not satisfied with the rifle and kept criticising the rifle (this is partially because a large number of earlier variants (1 & 1b) are still in use in service) to which DRDO in 2006 offered to a entirely new modern rifle EXCALIBUR which was based on Insas but was free of issues but army was reluctant in testing the rifle.
Indian Army issued a tender for assault rifles in 2011 and multiple world leading gun manufacturing firms participated with the best rifles they had to offer but no rifle was able to fulfill the requirements of Indian Army & pass the stringent tests. The tender was later scrapped in 2015 and Army accepted that the requirements it had quoted were not practical and that it is nearly impossible for any weapon to fulfill the quoted requirements.
When no foreign rifle was able to pass the tests the EXCALIBUR was made to undergo the same tests & amazingly it passed all the tests, but as it has done in past army once again changed the requirements and DUMPED THE EXCALIBUR RIFLE stating that it wasn't lethal enough for CT operations because it used 5.56x45 mm rounds (ironically its the caliber they earlier wanted). Army now wanted a rifle with 7.62x39 mm rounds like AK-47 which they said was more effective while fighting the terrorists.
ALTHOUGH DURING THE END OF 2016 ARMY ACCEPTED EXCALIBUR AS THE INTERIM RIFLE till it finds a suitable modern rifle. I reported this in post "ARMY TO INDUCT EXCALIBUR AS AN INTERIM RIFLE".
Also DRDO is currently working on 7.62x39 mm version of Excalibur which they call Excalibur AR 2.
FUTURE-
As per the latest news, army has issued yet another RFP for modern assault rifles but what is new is that the caliber now requested is not 7.62x39 mm but insanely big 7.62x51 (with respect to assault rifles).
The army has yet again changed the requirements.
I've posted explanation about the way to go here :
ReplyDeletehttp://www.defenceglobe.com/2017/03/armys-rfi-for-762x51-mm-standard-issue.html
It's .243WSSM ;)
Yes mate I love ur elaborate answers. Also do give review about the new look and interface.
Deletehttps://youtu.be/cf4_5S_J6gU
ReplyDeleteWhat do you say about 6.5*39 mm.
Well I don't think such rounds which even prove to be better in field trials are really as effective as through decades of fight 2 rounds have been established universally being 5.56 and 7.62 with 7.62 being the most produced round.
DeleteEven when mciws can fire 3 rounds 5.56 ,7.62 and 6.8 Remington I fear that no 1 will ever use Remington round as it is not produced in such numbers.
Similarly until Ur new round generates a market for itself it will be useless.
Armies around globe issue standard rounds because in case they run out of ammo they can use enemy ammunition as it's standardised so I don't think these unconventional rounds have a good scope in near future