Indian Defense Minister To Hold Acquisition Council Meeting On Kalashnikov Deal - Reports

Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh will hold a special meeting of the Defense Acquisition Council to discuss the Rs 5,124-crore Kalashnikov deal with Russia, the Economic Times reported on Tuesday citing sources

NEW DELHI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd November, 2021) Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh will hold a special meeting of the Defense Acquisition Council to discuss the Rs 5,124-crore Kalashnikov deal with Russia, the Economic Times reported on Tuesday citing sources.

Singh is expected to chair the meeting on Tuesday to officially approve the changes that New Delhi and Moscow have worked out in the Inter-Governmental Agreement. The bilateral deal is supposed to be signed during the forthcoming visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India on December 6.

The Economic Times, however, gave no details of the changes to be made to the contract.

The Russian-designed AK-203 will be manufactured at a plant in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The deal will provide for the production of 601,427 assault rifles for the Indian Armed Forces within 10 years.

The first 70,000 assault rifles are expected to be delivered to the Indian army 32 months after the beginning of production.

Signing the contract for AK-203 joint manufacturing lays the groundwork for the Indian Army's full transition to using AK-203 as a basic assault weapon. New Delhi intends to substitute the Indian Small Arms System rifle with AK-203 which is lighter, more reliable, universal and accurate.

The parties plan to begin the production of AK-203 assault rifles in early 2022.

The initial plan to conclude the deal was announced in 2018. In March 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to launch AK-203 joint manufacturing at the Korwa factory located in north-eastern India.