#Excalibur

Indian small arms procurement is a complex business. Not only is the Indian Army extremely large, standing at around 1.2 million men, but it also has a complex procurement structure and an indigenous small arms manufacturing base that has failed to provide weapons that meet the Indian Army’s requirements.

TFB had the rare opportunity to check out the SIG Sauer Exclusive line from their European Mastershop. This time I was the lucky guy!

India’s ongoing troubles adopting a new service rifle are well documented but as a leading defence committee, chaired by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, announces a major procurement are India’s small arms woes coming to an end?

The frothing, boiling cauldron that is India’s collective rifle development and procurement entities has shifted again. Just two weeks ago, we reported to you that India had restarted its search for a 7.62x51mm foreign assault rifle to replace the INSAS. Now, we learn from IHS Jane’s that the Excalibur rifle – an improved INSAS – is slated to be adopted as an interim measure, while a new 7.62x39mm rifle (with 5.56mm conversion kit!) is to be sought from foreign manufacturers.

In the latest installment of the Indian next generation rifle procurement saga, the nation-subcontinent has decided to forgo their “Excalibur” rifle development program, which consisted of essentially a product-improved INSAS rifle, in favor of a new 7.62x51mm infantry rifle. The new larger-caliber weapon is reportedly going to be chosen after the country conducts a Request for Information (RFI), soliciting material from manufacturers around the world regarding their latest 7.62x51mm caliber rifle products. IHS Jane’s reports:

The Indian Ministry of Defense is awaiting the results of trials to do with their Excalibur program, of which they are hoping will pass, and then plans to purchase over 600,000 rifles, at the price of 60,000 INR, or around $900 US dollars each. We’ve already covered the severe reliability problems with the INSAS in an article at TFB here, and we have a post about the first news of the Excalibur back in July. In case anyone was wondering, the name Excalibur has nothing to do with a possible play on the word “caliber” but instead is the name of the sword in the myth of King Arthur in Britain, where he pulls the sword out of the stone to become king. Unfortunately for India, it looks like they’re having an awfully hard time pulling the metaphorical perfect infantry rifle out of the stone. The article also mentions that the Indian Armed Forces are still in the process of looking for a carbine since they officially discontinued the 9x19mm Sterling in 2010 (I’m sure they still have tons scattered across armories and still in use, but at least from an official standpoint) and are still waiting to decide on several foreign carbines that were submitted. Of course this is also the bulk of the Armed Forces we are talking about here, the special forces and Indian Marines have their separate procurement programs. From Jane’s-