DRDO’s Carbine Completes Indian Army Trials

India’s state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has announced that the 5.56x30 mm Protective Carbine successfully cleared Army trials on December 7.

This has paved the way for the Joint Venture Protective Carbine (JVPC)’s induction into the services. This was the last leg of trials in a series of user trials which have been carried out in extreme temperature conditions in summer and high altitudes in winter. JVPC has successfully met the performance criteria of reliability and accuracy in addition to quality trials conducted by Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA), DRDO said in a release.

JVPC is a Gas Operated Semi Bull-pup automatic weapon having more than 700rpm rate of fire. The effective range of the carbine is more than 100m and weighs about 3.0kg with key features like high reliability, low recoil, retractable Butt, ergonomic design, single hand firing capability, and multiple Picatinny rails etc. These features make it a very potent weapon for Counter Insurgency /Counter Terrorism operations by security agencies.

The carbine has been designed as per Indian Army’s General Staff Qualitative Requirements (GSQR), by Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), a Pune based laboratory of DRDO. The Weapon is manufactured at Small Arms Factory, Kanpur while the Ammunition is manufactured at ammunition Factory, Kirkee Pune.

The weapon has already passed the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) trials and procurement action is initiated by the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and various State Police organisations.