Machine Guns Procurement For Indian Foot Soldiers Scrapped

India’s defense ministry has scrapped the procurements plan for over 44,000 light machine guns (LMGs) for its foot soldiers in the infantry.

This is the third such project, after the cases for new assault rifles and close-quarter battle carbines, to be junked over the last two years, Times of India reported Saturday.

The defence ministry withdrew the tender or RFP (request for proposal) for the 7.62mm calibre LMGs on the ground that it had become a "single-vendor situation" with only the Israeli Weapon Industries (IWI) left in the fray after lengthy field trials from December 2015 to February 2017.

The "Buy and Make" procurement plan involved an initial direct purchase of around 4,400 LMGs from a foreign armament company, followed by a tie-up with the Ordnance factory Board with transfer of technology for large-scale indigenous production.

The whole project would have cost an estimated Rs 13,000 crore. Last year Ministry of Defense also scrapped tender issued in 2010 for 44,618 close-quarter battle carbines, in which too IWI had emerged as "resultant single-vendor" over Italian firm Beretta, amid allegations of irregularities and political intrigue.

Last September, the Army was also forced to re-launch its global hunt for around two hundred thousand new-generation 7.62mm x 51mm assault rifles after similar bids over last decade were scrapped due to corruption scandals, unrealistic technical requirements and change in calibre of the desired guns.

The last RFP for the assault rifles was scrapped in May 2015 because of the Army's overambitious experiment to induct rifles with interchangeable barrels, with a 5.56x45mm primary barrel for conventional warfare and a 7.62x39mm secondary one for counter-terrorism.

"The three cases spell big trouble for the Infantry, which has been grappling with outdated basic weapons and lack of proper bullet-proof jackets for long.

Because of the long-winded defence procurement procedure, it will years for the new guns to be inducted.