Video: Vladimir Onokoy, Manager of the Military-Technical Cooperation Directorate at Kalashnikov Concern, explains the differences between three generations of rifles and the new submachine gun, AK-103, AK-203, AK-15 and PPK-20.
After a six year wait, India and Russia finally agreed to begin manufacturing of the Kalashnikov AK203 rifle in India.
The announcement came after the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission – Military & Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-M&MTC) between defence ministers Sergei Shoigu and Rajnath Singh, before the 2+2 meeting of foreign and defence ministers that included Sergei Lavrov and S. Jaishankar on Monday, which was followed by the annual India-Russia summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin in New Delhi.
According to India’s defence ministry, an order worth INR 5,100 crore (around USD 670 million) has been placed for 601,427 AK203 rifles to be manufactured at the Korwa Ordnance Factory at Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. The 7.62 X 39mm calibre AK203 rifle will replace the INSAS rifle that has been in service for three decades.
The Director General of Russian Rosoboronexport agency, Alexander Mikheev said, “The first 70,000 AK203 rifles will be produced in India with a phased increase in the extent of localisation from 5% to 70%. The rest of the rifles will be produced with 100% localisation.”
A statement from Russia’s Kalashnikov Concern said at the announcement, “Starting from 2019, Russian and Indian specialists have completed a huge amount of preparatory work to optimise the price and technical parameters of the contract. Today, the long-awaited contract for the production of more than 600,000 assault riffles in India has been signed. We are ready to start producing the AK-203 assault rifles in India in the upcoming months.”
The two countries set-up a new company to manufacture the rifles after summit talks in 2018. Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL), a joint venture between Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Limited (AWEIL) and Munitions India Limited (MIL) of India, successor companies of the earlier OFB (Ordnance Factory Board), and Rosoboronexport (RoE) and Kalashnikov Concern of Russia. According to Mikheev, Russia owns 49.5 percent of the stake in IRRPL, ‘with Kalashnikov Concern holding 42 percent and Rosoboronexport 7.5 percent’.
Mikheev also said a new small arms range had been set-up at the Korwa Ordnance Factory, as part of the venture, ‘ where both factory and acceptance tests of assault rifles will be carried out’.
The AK203 is an evolution from the original AK47 and AK74 rifles, and while earlier Kalashnikov rifles were chambered for the 5.45x39mm and then the NATO-standard 5.56x45mm calibres, the AK203 is chambered for the 7.62x39mm shell.
According to Rosoboronexport the AK203 has an effective range of 800 metres, a rate of fire of 700 rounds per minute and a weight of 4.05 kilograms, with the magazine included.
President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had first agreed on this project in 2015.
