More Sig Sauer rifles for troops as Defence Ministry sanctions procurement of over 70,000 rifles

New Delhi: More Indian soldiers are likely to get the US-made Sig Sauer assault rifles with the Defence Ministry recently sanctioning the procurement of more than 70,000 of these rifles at a price of nearly Rs 800 crore, boosting the fire-power of the troops.

The approval was given at a recent high-level defence meeting, attended by the top brass of the military, sources told DH here on Tuesday.

This will be the second batch of Sig Sauer procurement as the Defence Ministry in February 2019 had signed a Rs 694 crore deal to buy 72,400 assault rifles from Sig Sauer (7.62x51 mm calibre) within a year to replace the indigenous (5.56 x 45 mm) INSAS rifles being used by the troops.

All of the Sig Sauer rifles purchased in 2019 have been inducted and distributed among the troops guarding India’s disputed boundaries with Pakistan and China.

The procurement of the second batch of rifles was initially approved by the Defence Ministry in Sept, 2020, but the deal could not go through. “The same deal has now been renewed,” sources said.

These rifles were preferred because of their longer range and better operational ease. They also fulfil the “shoot to kill” objective, sources said.

The armed forces require 8.1 lakh assault rifles for the three services, out of which Indian Army alone needs 7.6 lakh rifles to replace the home made Indian Small Arms System (INSAS), which was inducted in 1978 with the primary aim of maiming the enemy.

Of the 72,400 SiG-716 rifles bought four years ago, the army received 66,400 while the air force and navy received 4000 and 2,000 guns respectively.