Army uses ‘jugaad’ to turn the American SiG 716 into a mean rifle for soldiers at LoC
Poonch/Bhimber Gali (J&K): It took some ‘
jugaad‘, but the American SiG 716 rifle has finally become a formidable choice of weapon for India’s soldiers after it was equipped with ‘eyes’ to operate in the dark, given better grip and the ability to turn it into a light machine gun.
The 7.62×51 mm SiG 716 G2 Patrol assault/battlefield rifles
first reached the Line of Control (LoC) in December 2019 after India bought the weapons from the US under emergency procurement. However, it took soldiers some time to get used to the arms.
Several factors were behind this, but primary among them was the fact that Indian soldiers were used to the ever dependable 7.62×39 mm AK-47s and the basic 5.56×45 mm INSAS rifle that was inducted in the early 1990s, sources in the defence establishment told ThePrint.
Also, the American rifle has a higher recoil. The SiG 716 has a higher calibre and is meant to shoot-to-kill at a distance of 600 metres, unlike the INSAS which has a lower range and is not designed to kill at longer distances. The AK-47 also fires a smaller round.
There was also the issue of the rifle sights — the optical device meant for the rifle was not bought to keep the cost down. This effectively made the rifle “almost blind” when operating the dark.
Ammunition was also a concern. While the Americans sold the rifle at a cheaper cost, the ammunition was expensive and hence this meant that a limited quantity was bought.
“A company might sell a rifle at a particular cost. But it makes better money through ammunition and servicing just like a car company does,” another source said.
The grip of the rifle was another stumbling block. Indian soldiers were used to the shorter barrel of the AK-47s for operations, which gave them better grip. In fact, troops had even fixed wooden handles beneath the barrel to improve the grip.
However, when it came to the SiG 716, the rifle did not come with any additional equipment than the standard issue.
All of these issues were addressed by making tweaks.
The Army had, in total, bought over 1.4 lakh of these rifles under two separate contracts.
The SiG 716 rifles lacked certain add-ons when first handed to soldiers at LoC in Dec 2019. However, minor tweaks to equip it with night sight, better grip & more cost-effective ammunition has made it formidable.
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, has separately mounted rail sections but handguards are polymer
