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Indian Army adds thousands of new SIG716 rifles to its arsenal
[American Military News] India has made a significant addition to the Indian Army’s firepower with urgent procurement and fast-tracking crucial military deals, one of which was the purchase of 72,400 Sig Sauer SIG716 Assault/Battle Rifle.The deal for procuring 72,400 SIG716 rifles was finalized in February 2019 by the Ministry of Defense under the Fast Track Procurement (FTP) procedure and cost $99 million US Dollars. The deal was made for the SIG716 Patrol G2 version of the rifle, which has a more powerful 7.62x51mm caliber configuration and is suitable for both battle and counter-insurgency scenarios. 10,000 rifles were already delivered in December 2019, and the remaining rifles will be delivered by the end of 2020. The 72,400 rifles will be distributed among 3 India’s three military branches. The Indian Army will receive 66,400 rifles, the Indian Navy will receive 2,000 rifles, and the remaining 4,000 will go to the Indian Air Force. Indian Army will replace their decades-old domestically-made INSAS 5.56x45mm caliber Battle Rifle built by the state-owned Ordnance Factory Board (OFB). The order for 72,400 assault rifles from Sig Sauer Inc. was the single largest contract for assault rifles since 1998 when the INSAS entered service. Posted by: Besoeker 2020-07-21 |
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