Spurred by the threat of restricted arms imports, India’s Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) has reverse-engineered the Heckler and Koch (H&K) MP5 for use within the country’s military and state police units. Named “Anamika”, which in Sanskrit means “without a name”, the submachine gun takes obvious cues from it’s German original.
Germany was a leader in pushing the UN to restrict the flow of small arms to war-torn countries. But such weapons leak across borders nonetheless. This is why Helmut Schmidt, a former chancellor, in December urged Germany to restrict arms exports, calling gun deaths a slow-motion Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Operating under the Ministry of Defense (MOD), the OFB, also known as Indian Ordnance Factory (IOF), is the world’s largest government-operated production organization; designing, testing and producing everything from small arms to aircraft. The Anamika is being built by the IOF’s Small Arms Factory (SAF) in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
Internal OFB documents confirm the project as “reverse engineering” by the SAF and that India’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is requesting regular progress updates. It appears that OFB/IOF plans to produce the Anamika in volume, since the meeting notes refer to it’s development will “provide sustained workload for SAF”. Because of it’s reverse engineering, It is assumed that the Anamika is not being licensed or approved by H&K as other “clone” manufacturers have been in the past.
Anamika 9mm Carbine : SAF is developing this weapon by reverse engineering process.
MHA is regularly enquired for this project. Successful development will provide sustained
workload for SAF.
Technical specifications are slim at the moment and the Anamika has yet to show up on the official IOF Small Arms product page.
Interestingly, the Anamika is listed as operated by “delayed blow back” but also refers to the firing mechanism as “Open Bolt”. It is difficult to imagine a reverse engineered MP5 operating from a open-bolt system, especially with the cocking handle and bolt hold open notch, so I’m guessing this was an advertising error. It would be interesting to see if the IOF can reverse engineer the mainstay of the MP5 line: the roller-delayed blowback system.
Another discrepancy lists the Anamika as “highly reliable in single shot and burst mode”, yet in the specifications it is listed as “AUTO & SINGLE”. As such, is difficult to determine if it will come with any trigger pack options. However, the trigger pack does appear to be a two-pin assembly. Also missing are the iconic H&K front and rear sights. The barrel appears to have a three-lug adapter for flash hider or sound suppressor attachments.
The entire gun is made out of stamped metal with no polymer parts to be found. With the limited number of pictures available, the build quality is average at best. Although, the displayed weapons could have been prototypes and yet to be finalized before manufacturing.
We have reached out to both the OFB and SAF for more information. Hopefully we will be able to report additional details as they become available.
General Manager
Small Arms Factory
Kalpi Road, Kanpur
PIN – 208009
Uttar Pradesh, India.
Phone : 0512-2295042-46
Fax : 0512-2296229
Email : saf.ofb@nic.in
Website address : http://ofb.gov.in/units/index.php?unit=saf