Russia to supply 70,000 AK-203 Assault Rifles

Russia would provide 70,000 AK-203 assault rifles to India off-the-shelf in the next six months and upgradation for Kamov light-weight multi-role military helicopters has been finalised on New Delhi’s requests, officials at Army 2021 in Moscow said. AK-203 is the latest version of the AK-47 rifle, which will replace the Indian Small Arms System 5.56x45 mm assault rifle.

The Indian Army has a requirement of around 770,000 AK-203 rifles, of which 100,000 was to be imported and the rest was to be manufactured in India. The off-the shelf supply would be part of 100,000 assault rifles, said Kalashnikov officials. The assault rifles will be provided to the Indian Army as part of mega infantry modernisation programme.

Meanwhile, Russian Helicopters said it modified Kamov-226 T Climber helicopters to suit Indian conditions on the specification given by India. “The technical changes were on the special request so that it can be operated by a single pilot,” said Vasily Grydin from Russian Helicopters.