Next month India is set to celebrate 75 years of India’s independence and towards that end the government is focusing on “Atmanirbhar Bharat” in the defence sector. Amidst the two years of global pandemic of COVID-19 and now the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the focus is on building in India and ensuring that the dependence on importing different weapons systems and platform lessens.
“If we are to sail through the choppy waters of the coming decade with an Uber assertive adversary on our eastern border and a weakened but vengeful one on our western border, our national security objectives will require the building of a military industrial complex, a cyber fortress, outer-space ventures and every other piece of technology that can shape the future of our battlefields,” explained a senior officer who wished to remain anonymous.
Infantry systems have traditionally remained unchanged over the years. The US military continued to favour the M4, undertaking upgrades in the last decade to the M4A1 Carbine.
According to an Indian army officer, “In the same time, the Indian INSAS rifle that came in to service post Operation Pawan, came face to face with its shortcomings. A realisation dawned that we wouldn’t be able to sustain a prolonged insurgency, let alone a war with that weapon.”
The US mounted an ambitious Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) programme which was the most ambitious prototyping initiative in decades. It aimed to replace both the M4A1 and the M249 light machine gun.
Because the soldier wanted more range and more lethality than the incumbent 5.56×45 mm ammunition could provide, and so was introduced the new 6.8×51 mm cartridge. The winner system from Sig Sauer entered the competition with a hybrid case cartridge – part composite and brass. This would help make the ammunition lighter whilst increasing range and lethality. Most interesting of all, the NGSW competition also featured a new breed of polymer cased ammunition developed by True Velocity. While the NGSW weapons were talked about more often, there is no doubt in any military mind that the landscape of war will be changed by the innovations in small caliber ammunition.
AK 203 rifles and the good old 7.62×39 cartridge for the rifles
Meanwhile, the Indian armed forces decided to go with the AK 203 rifles and the good old 7.62×39 cartridge for the rifles. “The problem is that this is a hand me down Russian system that may not be very effective for our mission criteria. It’s efficient but not accurate. Justifying the loss of accuracy for reliability would have been fine in the early decade of the century but not any longer,” explained the officer quoted above.
For the carbine modernization programme, there is an intent to go with an indigenously developed rifle featuring the 5.56×45 mm NATO round – the same round that the NGSW programme aims to replace.
The question therefore arises: “Are we a nation that should stick to hand me downs and not so lethal ammunition whilst the world is inclined to move away from those?” And, “Should we at least try and mount a ground up R&D effort to develop our own cartridge and weapon systems in sync with our mission criteria?”
Military experts are positive on this but skeptical since the near term requirements on modernization cannot be held hostage while we work on innovation.
However, industry players offer a different perspective. “SSS Defence, a Bangalore based defence venture active in both small arms and ammunition believes that the military should be open to mount a solicitation for prototyping a weapon and featured cartridge. This should be time bound and dictated by user requirements. The armed forces should play a project management and feedback role in the effort while staying away from dictating the technology. A future cartridge could feature materials other than brass that are available in plenty and not susceptible to global embargoes, composite material or polymer. Indeed, the likelihood of an embargo or squeeze on material supply in the future should be considered as a potential risk. If the Second World War could be influenced by a strategy of bombing ball bearing manufacturing plants, a supply squeeze on brass can be a death knell for the infantry soldier.”
Indeed, a solicitation similar to the NGSW is one that may be a solution to our long term intent and opens up the possibility of innovation from a new crop of indigenous small arms and ammunition players – SSS Defence, Kalyani Group to name just a few. Interestingly, the effort could also build partnerships among these firms and new startup’s operating in the areas of nanotechnology, light weight materials and coatings.
SSS Defence Talks to Financial Express Online
Talking to Financial Express Online, Vivek S Krishnan, Chief Executive Officer, SSS Defence, said, “SSS Defence is among the few indigenous developers of systems that has commenced production of small arms from its Bangalore facility. The JV between SSS Defence and Companhia Brasileira de Cartuchos (CBC) Brazil, an ammunition company, is expected to shortly commence production from Anantapur, AP.”
“This facility will produce all small and medium caliber rounds for India and the export market. The company has already received export contracts from military clients in the region, a key “Atmanirbhar Bharat” success that is now being showcased globally,” he added.
CBC of Brazil is the world’s second-largest ammunition manufacturer. And in a recent conversation with Financial Express Online, Ambassador André Aranha Corrêa do Lago of Brazil had said that the joint initiative between the two could be scaled up by 2025.
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