India, Russia Likely To Co-produce Kalashnikov AK-100 Rifles This Year

Russian Kalashnikov, which claims to have found a partner in India, is likely to sign agreement this year to launch co-production of AK-100 assault rifles.

“The way I see it, we have already identified a partner that looks interested and is capable of doing that.” Kalashnikov Concern Chief Executive Aleksey Krivoruchko said in an interview to TASS news agency Tuesday.

I hope that we will conclude a specific agreement this year and will move on towards its practical implementation,” he added.

The company might launch joint production of automatic weapons in cooperation with a local partner. According to the earlier announcement in 2015, the concern has plans of manufacturing 50,000 rifles a year with a view to building up output further, if necessary, he added.

Meanwhile Rosoboronexport Deputy Chief Executive Sergey Goreslavsky said, licensed production of the AK-100 family of assault rifles might be launched in India after the testing of experimental samples in the country,

During 2014 October, India’s Ishapore rifle factory had designed an assault rifle based on the Russian AK-47. The prototype of this weapon had successfully cleared field trials by the Army, the Indian Air Force and the Sashastra Seema Bal.