-Handgun
-Sub-Machine Gun
-Sub-Carbine/Micro Carbine (those 10″ and smaller barreled M4-like things that’re becoming all the craze)
-Personal Defence Weapon (in its truest meaning, for REMF’s and vehicle crews)

With just one or two purpose-made weapons. That’s four weapons, of at minimum two calibers (say 9×19mm and 5.56 NATO), replaced by one weapon that could possibly use the same projectile (a 55gr bullet if the Idians do switch over to 5.56 NATO and something like the SS109). Those purpose-made weapons could be:

-A “Machine Carbine” with all the performance of a rifle round at close quarters (fragmentation, wounding ability, shock ability, pain and suffering, debilitation, and armour penetration) and out to 250-300m (typical combat range, ask the Germans and why they made the 8mm Kurtz round). This would be for special operations use, MOUT use by infantry or mechanized forces, COIN/CT/Anti-Terror/High-Risk Breach for SWAT units, in a weapon about the same size as, say, something the size of an HK33KA3 with a retractable stock – a “carbine-like” weapon, that’s “full sized” for this round. I’m thinking a good 13″ to 13.5″ barrel or so, with a folding or collapseable stock that goes all the way to the receiver, to keep it very compact and lightweight for long distance missions (and to save weigt for more ammo at the same total weight package). That should keep it still smaller than an M4 and the two/2.5 extra inches of barrel should bring long distance (100+m) performance up to at least par with the M4 Carbine. The chart up there omits the M4’s performance (14.5″ barrel), but it’s a good guess that it’s about in between the MARS and the M16, towards the lower end. Capacity, ideally, would be 40-50 rounds per magazine.. as much as 60 if it can be done efficiently (think weight, size, existing mag pouch dimensions, etc.)

-A “Personal Defence Weapon” with the performance of a rifle round at very close ranges (0-50m). This would be something like the MSMC above, or like the H&K MP7. This would replace handguns, SMG’s and existing “crew personal weapons” for non-infantry personnel and be designed for *defencive* use. That is, put plenty of rounds down range while moving away from the engagement. If the enemy is ambushing your convoy, they’re almost at knife-and-bayonet range as it is. You don’t need a weapon that can kiss the fly on their head at 200m, you need one that can hit the torso of a man-sized target at just a few dozen feet. The MP7 comes with “spoon-tip” rounds, that seem to be plenty legal (Hague convention – the Bundesheer is issuing the MP7 now, and they are, I believe, signatories of it), and in a larger (.223″ vs .183″ or 5.7mm vs 4.6mm) round, plenty lethal. In this weapon, hits count. If you have five troops returning fire with five of these PDWs and one on a mounted weapon, that’s six things throwing full-auto lead in a nice blanket – high hit probability, and good enough to cause either debilitating wounds or death on enough targets to make escape possible. For India worrying about Pakistan, this makes great sense.

By replacing SMG’s, Sub-Cars, almost all Handguns (General/Staff Officers could be issued a handgun in this same caliber, the round is only 0.10″ longer than the P90 round) and PDW’s, you save on Training requirements (time and money). By acquiring two weapons instead of (at least) four, you save acquisition costs. By switching to one caliber instead of (at least) two, you save ammunition costs. By using the same types of projectiles, you save on acquiring new machines to make bullets.. the list goes on. It’s incredibly cost effective, in theory, and it simplifies weapon training for those that aren’t expected to do much fighting, AND gives the potential for extending these benefits to SWAT-type units.. the postives can potentially outweigh the negatives, if the system is implemented correctly and with enough forethought.. an if the politicians can stay out of the mess.

I agree with you. Same concept, but I think that a heavier 6mm bullet would be better.

how is this new indian round any different than the 6×35 round developed for the knight’s armanent PDW? seems like almost the same thing, only worse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight’s_Armament_Company_PDW

If I was going to go through the trouble of making a new submachine gun to fire a new cartridge, I’d pick a better cartridge, like the 9×25 Dillon (115gr @ 1800 fps from a 6″ barrel). I thought sub-machine guns were supposed to be for engagements of a hundred yards or less.

As the “bullet board” shows, you gotta be above 2500 fps to reliably generate fragmentation. Based on the estimated velocity chart, that is no more than about 25 yards.

While true that a PDW is a short range weapon, I’d like it to be reliably beyond 25 yards.