India to Achieve 'Full Indigenization' of AK-203 Assault Rifle Production by 2025

India is gearing up to achieve complete self-sufficiency in the manufacturing of Kalashnikov AK-203 assault rifles by the end of 2025. This ambitious goal was revealed by Major-General Sudhir Kumar Sharma, the managing director of Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL), a joint venture between India and Russia, in an interview with TASS.

The production process in India is planned in five stages, each marked by an increased percentage of locally sourced components. Sharma expressed confidence in achieving 100% indigenization by December 2025. The first rifle assembled in India, back in June 2023, contained only 5% Indian components, with the remaining 95% imported from Russia in knockdown condition.

The IRRPL contract with the Indian Ministry of Defence was signed in December 2021. Since the delivery of the first rifle to the Indian Army in December 2022, approximately 35,000 rifles have been handed over and are currently in active use by soldiers on the ground.

The establishment of the India-Russia joint venture to produce Kalashnikov rifles in India was announced by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2019. The Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited, responsible for AK-203 production, is located near Korwa in Amethi district, Uttar Pradesh. Russia’s co-founders are Rosoboronexport and Kalashnikov Concern of the Rostec State Corporation. India holds the distinction of being the first foreign country to manufacture the AK-203 variant of the Kalashnikov assault rifle.

The AK-203 assault rifle, configured for the Indian Armed Forces, was first showcased at the Defexpo India 2020 international arms show. Key improvements over its predecessor include an anatomical Magpul buttstock, a more comfortable pistol grip, and Picatinny rails on the reinforced receiver cover and upper forend for mounting various sights.

The rifle also features MIL-STD-1913 standard mounts on the lower forend and sides for attaching accessories like bipods, tactical lights, and laser range finders. Additionally, it can be equipped with a 40mm GP-34 underbarrel grenade launcher.

 

[Tanishq Bafila]

IA will Use this as an excuse reject all domestic rifles and squash any indigenous development. All private and PSUs should use this opportunity to contact with filthy rich police forces of all the states and offer the indigenous designs and sell them. IA will only buy foreign things. They have colored glasses that filter our indigenous products and select only foreign garbage.

Not for Rifles, our soldiers have confidence in AK series of rifles due to their reliability & less complexity.. We are inducting Small machine gun from Indian vendor , Indian vendors should focus on selling their to Foreign countries & Indian para-military forces to prove their worth