After you’ve been to dozens of defense expos all around the globe, you don’t really expect to see anything new and exciting. The time when “big reveals” of new products were done at exhibitions are almost gone, there is the internet for that. And DEFEXPO was no exception until I walked into a booth of SSS Defense.

If you never heard about this company, don’t worry, I never heard about it either. But their product line was extremely impressive, let’s take a closer look at some of the guns they showcased.

P-72 rifles

Fist of all, there was a family of P-72 assault rifles: P-72 Carbine with a 10-inch barrel, P-72 DMR with 18 or 20-inch barrels and P-72 Rapid Engagement Combat Rifle (RECR, pronounced “wrecker”) with a 16-inch barrel.

According to the SSS Defense catalog, P-72 Carbine is “available in 7.62×39 and 5.56×45” and RECR “is available in the powerful 7.62×39 and 7.62×51 NATO chambering. The 16-inch, super-light-contour barrel helps to keep weight to a minimum. The barrel is free-floated in the one-piece monolithic upper, and the rifle utilizes a short-stroke gas piston system with a rotating bolt”.

But that is not all. At DEFEXPO 2020 SSS Defense also presented two bolt action sniper rifles: “Viper” chambered for 7.62×51

“Viper” sniper rifle

and “Saber” chambered for .338 Lapua Magnum.

“Saber” sniper rifle

Unfortunately, all of the weapons were bolted to the wall, so there was no way to see if those are functional weapons or just prototypes or mock-ups. But without any doubt, the design of P-72 looks very promising – with an adjustable stock which looks very similar to ACR, M-LOK slots for Picatinny rails, ambidextrous safety/selector it certainly follows all the latest trends in the small arms design.

P-72 rifle

Talking to a lot of local small arms experts, I confirmed that the SSS Defense display was a complete surprise for everyone. It would be interesting to see what the future holds for “Viper”, “Saber” and P-72. Let’s hope that the troubled history of indigenous Indian small arms development won’t affect the future of those weapons.