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Sterling L2A1) and 2A1 (silenced Sterling Mark V). It is expected that every major small arms company in the world will try to get a piece of the Indian firearms cake. Some of them like Israeli IWI (Israeli Weapon Industries) with the X95/Tavor 2/Zittara carbine and Singapore ST Kinetics with the SAR21 LWC already have close ties with local state-owned companies. Some manufacturers have sped up development of new models of weapons to meet India’s deadlines like the Ceska Zbrojovka’s Skorpion EVO 3A1 submachine gun and S 805 BREN A2 carbine.
The coming year in Asia will be dominated by India’s enormous new weapon tenders
India is also working intensively on their own submachine guns for the 5.56x30mm cartridge. The first is the MINSAS, a scaled down INSAS rifle adapted for the shorter cartridge with an AKS-like folding buttstock. The barrel of the MINSAS is 330mm in length, the overall length is 565/775 mm (buttstock folded/extended) and weighs 2.8 kg. The second is the Zittara, the Israeli IWI Tavor 2 multi-calibre weapon in bullpup design, adapted to 9x19, 5.56x30 and 5.56x45 mm ammunition. The barrel is also 330 mm Singapore’s ACMS (Advanced Combat Man System) is currently being fielded by the Singapore Armed Forces. The soldier uses the SAR21 MMS (Modular Mounting System) carbine with weapon mounted camera for capturing and sharing of target information © MinDef Singapore
The INSAS design is strongly influenced by the AK assault rifle, combined with some features of the 1A1 (Indian FN FAL) battle rifle. There are at least three other INSAS variants under development: the Excalibur rifle with 400 mm barrel, and full auto mode, the Kalantak carbine with 330 mm barrel and MINSAS submachine gun fed by a 5.56x30 mm cartridge. The Ishapore designers – similar to the Chinese Type 86 and South Korean XK8/DAR-21 attempts – also were trying to convert their standard assault rifle INSAS to a bullpup variant, and manufactured several prototypes, but the status of this development is still unknown. New weapons may also be introduced with India’s future Future Infantry Soldier As A System (F-INSAS) programme.
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The coming year in Asia will be dominated by India’s enormous new weapon tenders. The small arms side of the F-INSAS (Future Infantry Soldier As A System) project is to buy over 43,318 Close Quarter Battle (CQB) carbines from abroad plus the manufacture of another 116,764 of them in India under a transfer-of-technology agreement. The Request for Information was announced in January. Moreover, India wants to purchase over 10,730 lightweight assault rifles for their special forces and the OFB wants to manufacture 218,320 modular carbines, easier to operate than full length assault rifles. Concluding in February was a tender for 34,377 9x19 mm submachine guns (called 9mm Machine Carbine) for the Border Security Force to replace the 1A (Indian ASIAN MILITARY REVIEW