Kalashnikov Completes Delivery of Tools to India for AK-203 Production

Back in January 2023, Russia’s Rosoboronexport announced that the first batch of India’s AK-203s had been completed. The rifles are being procured under India’s Make in India scheme with a joint venture, named Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL), which is a partnership between India’s Advanced Weapons & Equipment India Limited (AWEIL) and Munitions India Limited (MIL) and Rostec subsidiaries Kalashnikov and Rosoboronexport of Russia. This will see production of the rifles shift from Russia to India and Kalashnikov Concern have announced the shipment of machinery and tools to allow India to establish production in Korwa.

India’s AK-203 @ TFB:

• First Batch of Made In India AK-203 Rifles For Indian Army Ready
• Rosoboronexport To Discuss AK-203 Production At India’s Defexpo 22
• Has India Sealed the Deal? 770,000 Kalashnikov AK-203s for Indian Armed Forces
• India’s AK-203 Program Delayed
• FIRST LOOK: India’s AK – Not Quite an AK-203
• India To Produce 750,000 AK-203s
• Making Sense of India’s Small Arms Procurement Nightmare

Here’s Kalashnikov Concern’s announcement in full:

The Kalashnikov Concern has shipped more than 4,500 pieces of machinery and tooling as part of the contract for the supply of equipment and parts for setting up the licensed production of over 600,000 AK-203 rifles in the city of Korwa (India). The agreement was signed in 2021 in Delhi during a meeting of the defense ministers of Russia and India.

More than 1,100 different types of tools were produced by Kalashnikov’s special machine-building, tooling, machine tool, and weapons production divisions over the course of a year and a half. These include cutting tools, caliber gauges, dies, and fitment. All products successfully passed the export commission’s acceptance tests.

“Since the agreement was signed in December 2021, all of our enterprise’s services have worked incredibly hard,” states Alan Lushnikov, Kalashnikov Concern JSC President. “New technical documentation was drafted, equipment was procured, and additional staff members were hired. All products are now stored in warehouses, awaiting delivery to India.”