India Opts To Buy 44000 Close Quarter Battle Carbines Through Govt-To-Govt Sale

Indian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has decided to buy 44,000 close quarter battle (CQB) carbines instead of opting for the global tendering process for the Army.

The battle carbines were required for its counter-terrorism operations in the Kashmir Valley, New Indian Express reported Saturday.

“The ministry has to go for direct government-to-government sale for buying the weapon. It will speed up the acquisition process and will rule out allegations of corruption,” a top ministry official said.

The ministry aims to replace its British-era carbines, the sub-machine gun or the sten gun, which were retired long ago.

The defense ministry also proposed an agreement under foreign military sales with a country for buying 10,000 such carbines directly. The remaining lot can be manufactured here with a production license to meet Army’s requirement.

“The British-era carbines are not battle worthy. “The carbines were authorized to commanders of Ghatak platoon, the Army’s first line of offensive in anti-terrorist operations. However, the weapons are no match for militants who use sophisticated automatic weapons.

In conventional warfare, militants are multi-generations ahead of the Army,” An Army officer involved in counter-insurgency operations said.