In a new boost to India’s defence industry, Russia’s state-owned Rosoboronexport has offered to set up a facility in India to produce modern weapons and future Kalashnikov’s designs. Will the Kalashnikov assault rifle compete with the Israeli Tavor assault rifle, already manufactured in India, on this vast market?
The offer was made during an Indian delegation’s industrial visit to the Kalashnikov Group facility in Izhevsk. Apurva Chandra, Director General Acquisition of the Ministry of Defence of India led the delegation. The company’s Director General Alexandr Mikheev said they were ready to help India construct a facility “similar to what the Mr. Apurva Chandra-led delegation saw today to produce modern weapons and future Kalashnikov’s designs. Rosoboronexport has substantial expertise to accommodate needs of our partner.”
According to defenseworldnet, the Indian officials were given a tour of the production facility and were given the opportunity to test numerous Kalashnikov’s weapons on a range. “What we have witnessed proves the plant’s capacity to provide uninterrupted production of hi-tech equipment in quantity. While assembly of the latest AKs has already gone in full swing, we saw good potential for future growth and transition to production of state-of-the-art designs in the future,” noted Mr. Apurva Chandra. “We hope that the issue of setting up production of Kalashnikov assault rifles gives way to specific solutions in the near future for us to take up implementing our mutually beneficial intentions,” added Deputy Director General Arkady Privalov of the Kalashnikov Group.
In May 2017, the Indian Punj Lloyd inaugurated a joint venture with Israel Weapon Industries (IWI), India’s first private sector small arms manufacturing plant.
The joint venture (JV) Punj Lloyd Raksha Systems (PLR) was designed to manufacture four products X95 carbine and assault rifle, Galil sniper rifle, Tavor assault rifle and Negev Light Machine Gun (LMG).