Single-hand carbines to be used soon in Naxal operations

Magazines hold 30 bullets which have a 200-metre range

Within a month, the Army will start trials of these single-hand carbines that has a lethality range of 200 mt and hold 30 rounds in the ammunition cartridge. Developed by the Armament Research and Development Establishment, Pune, the carbine will screen multiple sites to strike a target accurately.

“We had spoken to the paramilitary forces and the National Security Guards. Everybody is waiting to see the results of the Army trial,” Anil M Datar, ARDE director, told Deccan Herald. The 5.56-mm carbine has a special gun for counter-insurgency and anti-Naxal operations.

Besides the new carbine, the defence laboratory has also started working on an intelligent rifle with embedded sensors to eventually replace the INSAS. The Gen Next rifles will have systems to coordinate with a backpack computer or a head-mounted display for the future soldier for better and accurate strike.

However, it is still a futuristic technology and will evolve as a part of the Army’s plan to transform future soldiers as a “walking system”, carrying many technologies making them more lethal and invincible.

The Pune laboratory is also developing technologies to convert the Indian Air Force’s existing stock of “dumb bombs” into “smart bombs” for precise hitting at a distance of 20 km. “This will be done by inserting a guidance system at the nose and tail of the ammunition so that it can be guided by a laser or a seeker,” Datar said.

Scientists working in five armament cluster laboratories under the Defence Research and Development Organisation, in collaboration with the Ordnance Factory Board and the Navy, have come out with a new rocket system to protect India’s exclusive economic zone, which is all set to increase.

At the final stage of development, the 140-mm rocket rocket has a range of 4 km and will be fired from shore or boat-mounted launchers after visually spotting a target—most likely speed boats and rogue trawlers.

The rocket has completed its development trials at the Proof and Experimental Establishment in Chandipur—the oldest DRDO laboratory, and would soon be inducted by the Navy, said PXE director, Maj Gen P Mathur.

“Its main objective is to keep intruders out of our EEZ. It will scare them away,” said a Navy officer, involved in the project.