The Defence Ministry has cancelled repeat order for purchase of 72,400 ‘Patrol’ Sig Sauer assault rifles from the US for its Armed Forces. Now, the government will look to purchase similar rifles through ‘Make in India’ initiative which is being promoted to give boost to domestic defence industries, said Ministry sources.
The Ministry had ordered ₹700-crore worth 72,400 Sig Sauer rifles in 2020 but it's apparently not keen to purchase again the same number of SIG716 7.6251 mm guns due to operational problems troops deployed in Jammu and Kashmir are encountering. The SIG rifles may be working fine in America but there can be compatibility issues in India because of different operational conditions, a senior Ministry officer pointed out.
The Ministry’s second thoughts also stems from complaints of issues arising out of mismatch between Indian ammunition being used in the US assault rifles, said informed army sources.
Of the first batch, the Army had got most of the rifles (66,400), the Indian Air Force (IAF) got 4,000, and the Indian Navy’s Guard Special Forces were armed with the remaining 2,000 weapon systems.