Press Trust of India
New Delhi, 4 May
CRPF, which is deployed for anti- Maoist operations, has decided to shun its
standard weapon of combat, the indigenous INSAS rifle, and henceforth arm its troops exclusively with the AK series of assault rifles.
The force has also sought to procure 20,000 new AK series rifles for its troops, deployed in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas in various states and counter-insurgency theatres in the North-East
.The force has discovered that the INSAS rifle not as “operationally suitable” as the Russian made AK-47 and AK-56 series of combat rifles.
The country's largest paramilitary force, with its three lakh personnel, is now planning to reduce the numbers of INSAS rifles in its armoury as a technical and scientific comparison between the INSAS and the sophisticated AK rifles has hailed the latter as more effective.
Field commanders of the force deployed in the anti-Maoist operations grid said they were frequently sending
the INSAS to the weapon repair store of the force.
The Indian Small Arms System (INSAS) rifle has been the primary weapon of the force for a number of years now and it is even relied upon by the Indian Army for use by its troops in various combat scenarios.
The INSAS was developed for the first time in the late 80s by the Ordnance Factories Board (OFB) for aiding the Indian infantry forces.
“INSAS was never the preferred weapon for us in operational areas like in the Left Wing Extremism theatre.”
“We have found that our men are more confident with the AK series rifles,” Central Reserve Police Force chief, Dilip Trivedi told reporters.
However,the Director General said that INSAS would continue to remain in the force as CRPF has a multi-faceted role in the internal security domain of the country including dealing with law and order problems and dealing with the conduct of elections.
Force commanders on the ground said
that while the AK series of rifles rarely needed repairs or
overhauling, the INSAS was being sent “quite often” to the repairing table.
Officials said, however, there was no instances where the INSAS had failed to operate during a live encounter or an operation.
There have been occasions when the troops have demanded that they be supplied with AK rifles only for combat tasks as they have found them 'dependable' during their drills and hence are more confident using them during real combat situation.
The CRPF has been extensively deployed for anti-Naxal operations across various Maoist affected states.
By the last count, over 90,000 troops of the force, including the specialised COBRA combat unit, trained in guerrilla warfare based on specific intelligence inputs, have been
permanently deployed for these duties.
The force's inclination to the AK rifles, can be gauged from the fact that it has also decided to cancel any future procurement of the Israel made 'X-95' rifle, touted to be more
sophisticated and smarter than the AK rifles.
