INDIAPOSITIVE
ELITE MEMBER
![](/styles/default/xenforo/ranks/General.jpg)
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2014
- Messages
- 9,318
- Reaction score
- -28
- Country
- Location
SOURCE: Militarytimes.com
The Indian Army is in the process of spending major dough, to the tune of USD $503 million, on a new service rifle for its frontline infantry troops.And a pair of AR-style carbines have emerged as the top choices for the highly lucrative contract.
In a bid to partially replace the problematic and incredibly controversial 1B1 INSAS, the Indian Army’s current standard-issue assault rifle, the Indian Ministry of Defence will soon enter a three-month negotiation period with US-based arms giant SIG Sauer Inc. to procure over 72,000 SIG 716 battle rifles.
Marking a shift from 5.56 NATO with the 1B1 to the larger-caliber 7.62 NATO with the 716, the Indian Army hopes to give its troops a more reliable weapon which it currently sorely lacks. Complaints of untimely stoppages and mechanism failures have marred what the Indian MoD had originally hoped would be a long and storied career for its (at-the-time) next-generation gun.
SIG’s 716 uses a short stroke piston-driven operating system with a heavier pushrod than its smaller brother, the 516 (chambered for 5.56 NATO), and a 16 inch hammer-forged free floating barrel. An ambidextrous mag release, tons of rail space for electronics and optics, plus a telescoping Magpul stock round out the features on the rifle.
The second part of the multi-million dollar contract will ultimately go towards Caracal International LLC, a UAE-based defense contractor offering their CAR816, a carbine analogous to the M4, firing the 5.56 NATO round. Similar to the SIG 516 and the 716, the CAR816 uses a short-stroke pushrod gas piston design, and comes with a 16 inch barrel.
The CAR816 will be used as a close quarters battle (CQB) weapon, replacing the substantially smaller caliber 9 mm Sterling… a side-loaded submachine gun which traces its origins back to the 1940s.
![ANI2RDNMFVD63OAZMMABWKG6OU.jpg](/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.armytimes.com%2Fresizer%2FO5V7cH_MS6ywlWW-kmnAsOl8C-4%3D%2F600x0%2Ffilters%3Aquality%28100%29%2Farc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-mco.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2FANI2RDNMFVD63OAZMMABWKG6OU.jpg&hash=96ce665bd3a93adc1497aaa5ab92484f)
The Indian Army is in the process of spending major dough, to the tune of USD $503 million, on a new service rifle for its frontline infantry troops.And a pair of AR-style carbines have emerged as the top choices for the highly lucrative contract.
In a bid to partially replace the problematic and incredibly controversial 1B1 INSAS, the Indian Army’s current standard-issue assault rifle, the Indian Ministry of Defence will soon enter a three-month negotiation period with US-based arms giant SIG Sauer Inc. to procure over 72,000 SIG 716 battle rifles.
Marking a shift from 5.56 NATO with the 1B1 to the larger-caliber 7.62 NATO with the 716, the Indian Army hopes to give its troops a more reliable weapon which it currently sorely lacks. Complaints of untimely stoppages and mechanism failures have marred what the Indian MoD had originally hoped would be a long and storied career for its (at-the-time) next-generation gun.
![TLJJ7BKHF5FJZIVCA2Z44P3BTY.jpg](/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.armytimes.com%2Fresizer%2F7GXl6OY4vRxgr73ErxXa0a8zgnw%3D%2F600x0%2Ffilters%3Aquality%28100%29%2Farc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-mco.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2FTLJJ7BKHF5FJZIVCA2Z44P3BTY.jpg&hash=be8cfea68342924e8a4251f170b4b8a3)
SIG’s 716 uses a short stroke piston-driven operating system with a heavier pushrod than its smaller brother, the 516 (chambered for 5.56 NATO), and a 16 inch hammer-forged free floating barrel. An ambidextrous mag release, tons of rail space for electronics and optics, plus a telescoping Magpul stock round out the features on the rifle.
The second part of the multi-million dollar contract will ultimately go towards Caracal International LLC, a UAE-based defense contractor offering their CAR816, a carbine analogous to the M4, firing the 5.56 NATO round. Similar to the SIG 516 and the 716, the CAR816 uses a short-stroke pushrod gas piston design, and comes with a 16 inch barrel.
The CAR816 will be used as a close quarters battle (CQB) weapon, replacing the substantially smaller caliber 9 mm Sterling… a side-loaded submachine gun which traces its origins back to the 1940s.