The entire small arms plan is a complete and utter JOKE.
FTP Rifle
FTP Carbine
Neither of which will be made in India- inexcusable that is.
Separately
Make in India Rifle
Make in India Carbine
So worst case scenario the IA could be inducting 4-5 DIFFERENT weapons for VERY similar roles.
I’ve honestly never seen anything like it and I don’t care what anyone says, this is BLATENT corruption. There is NO other logical explanation. There is no benefit to inducting so many different small arms in such limited numbers, all that does is increase training and life time ownership costs.
Scam, scam, scam is what this screams of and I don’t know why the GoI isn’t looking the other way and the media is cheerleading this along.
What it looks like to me is the sheer AVERSION/FEAR of being accused of a scam. That's why everything's having to go through a separate tender process. Otherwise it should be a simple case of giving G2G orders in larger batches to whichever companies win the FTP tenders.
I'm not inclined to see corruption in this case bro (as far as 7.62x51 MII rifle and 5.56 MII carbines go). There is not much scope for corruption in a tendered process. The one deal where there IS a possibility of some wrong-doing (either on part of GoI/Army/OFB) is in the selection of Kalashnikov as the supplier for Army's regular issue rifle (non-frontline). And then OFB getting 'nominated' by GoI, disallowing Pvt. Sector to compete.
All because perceptions of INSAS are so bad thanks to IA b!tchjng and moaning about it from day one.
It's not perception. It's the first-hand account of servicemen of over 3 generations (within my immediate relatives, in fact).
OFB has a typical, long-standing problem: the guns you use in testing are great. But QC drops drastically once large production orders get going. The weapons supplied to the regular jawan are simply not good. And by virtue of being a DPSU, where everyone is entitled to their pay, pension & job security REGARDLESS of the quality of their work, the OFB simply has no incentive to change or improve itself.
You have seen their production facilities. I've seen cattle-rearing sheds in villages that look better.
These are not the guys I want building our firearms. Unfortunately, their position is secured thanks to the huge consolidated vote bank they represent, and the huge clout they enjoy over the MoD and GoI at large.
It isn’t 7.62 is their latest complaint, what short memories everyone seems to have. Maybe these geniuses shouldn’t have mindlessly aped NATO 30 years back and ASKED for a 5.56 rifle.
True, Army is a loon when it comes to setting requirements. The US adopted 5.56 AR-15 design in the 1960s and today, almost 60 years later, the same is still in use. The Russians adopted 5.45 AK-74 in the 70s and still stick with the same calibre and action for their service rifle.
In contrast, the IA went from 7.62 SLR in the 60s, to 5.56 INSAS in the 90s, and now within a gap of few years, changed its calibre requirements 3 times. From the initial multi-calibre requirement, to the 7.62x51 requirement, and now to the split-order of 7.62 Nato and 7.62 Kalashnikov.
The fault sorely lies with the IA in not being able to decide what it wants. They are the only competent authority that can decide this and they've been doing a very, very bad job.
Exactly ... while most are calling it a major achievement .. i consider it as sad way our armed forces are being played ... we have effectively shut down any local R&D in small arms for next 20+ years with all these procurement. Also as you said 3 different calibres for similar roles would required lot of logistical and supply changes.
What local R&D? No such thing exists.
Unless you mean taking apart existing rifles and compiling a virtual mish-mash of design elements into a single, shoddily-made receiver qualifies as "R&D".
The cheerleading being done at the prospect of Indias entire small arms industry being effectively Killed off and the effectiveness of the army arguably decreased (now training and other revenue costs will be FAR higher per soldier/rifle) makes me wonder if these people are bought off or genuinely this ignorant.
How will any of this kill off the small arms industry? It needs to be noted that India's "small arms industry" revolves around production. NOT Research & Development.
R&D is almost an afterthought. Ordnance Factories typically mush together design elements from foreign guns which they already produce and that about constitutes the extent of small arms R&D in the country.
As of OFB, their future is secure. They are a DPSU, they're not going anywhere and nobody can make them go away. OFB gets to happily build Russian AK-203 and supply probably all 650,000 of them to the IA, and then several lakhs more for CAPFs, Police forces etc. OFB is happy. They just care about whether they have work or not, they don't care where that work comes from. To them R&D is a chore, if GoI buys a license for a foreign designed gun and gives the production order to OFB, then they are doubly happy. They don't even have to waste time & money on "R&D" yet they get the work!
Meanwhile, its the private industry which suffers.
If anything, there's a possibility that some genuine R&D keeping local needs in mind might emerge from the OFB-Kalashnikov JV which is set to form. Not to mention, with the 7.62 Nato and 5.56 Carbine tenders, at least 1-2 more private sector small arms production facilities will come up on the lines of Punj Llyod Raksha Systems.
These facilities hold potential to become global production hubs and R&D centers in the future.
For what it’s worth......
I know many will dismiss his comments outright.
Ofcourse I will dismiss. He's a senior executive of OFB. What do you expect him to say? Not the first or the last time that representatives of state-owned companies seen making tall claims.
I'll simply reiterate with the fact that it took the OFB over 20 years to realize the fact that they ought to anodize the receiver & other aluminium components of INSAS in order to ensure it retains its properties for longer under field conditions....not that they come with particularly great properties anyway...and a similar amount of time to realize that they ought to incorporate P-rails into the factory configuration as a means of future-proofing and having scope for cheap, easy, user-configurable upgrades & modifications down the line.
I can say on a whim that OFB is a stranger to the prevailing best-practices in the field of small arms manufacturing (let alone R&D) internationally, and shows no signs of improving.
It frankly hurts me to see these OFB reps claim themselves as being world class. Thereby straight up
insulting and simply
ignoring the BILLIONS of dollars poured into true, cutting-edge R&D and industry-leading production processes undertaken by companies like FN Herstal, Heckler & Koch, Colt, SIG Sauer etc. which is what earns them the rightful title of being world-class.
Along comes OFB, where R&D means making a porridge of this and that, and where production happens in a run-down warehouse somewhere and is as shoddy as they come, self-appointing themselves as world-class.
One would think a world-class company knows to machine the dust cover to properly fit the bolt carrier...
