I will dress like a picture
I'm in Japanese boots
Big in a Russian hat, But with an Indian soul.
I'm in American socks
I'm Spanish in tight trousers
Big in a Russian hat, but with an Indian soul.
Song of Raj Kapoor from the movie "Mister 420"
Weapons and firms. It is not clear why, but many states want their own weapons - instead of buying them from those who do them best. They want to want … But whether something worthwhile comes out of this "wanting", the question is different. Take India, for example. Since the late 1950s, the Indian army has been armed with a copy of the local English self-loading rifle L1A1. But in the mid-1980s, the Indians needed their own 5.56mm rifle to replace this outdated sample. Tests of various prototypes were carried out on the basis of AKM, because what other weapon is fighting in the desert and jungle better than our usual Kalashnikov? The presented samples were tested by the Arms Research Institution (ARDE) in Pune. The tests were completed in 1990, in general successfully, after which the Indian Small Arms System (INSAS) was adopted. In order to send all Lee-Enfield rifles to warehouses as soon as possible (apparently, this was critically important for the country's defense), in 1990-1992. India purchased another 100,000 pieces of 7.62 × 39-mm AKM assault rifles. Moreover, machines were purchased in Russia, Hungary, Romania and even Israel.
Whatever it was, but as a result, INSAS entered service. Production is carried out at the small arms factory in Kanpur and in the Ishapor arsenal. The INSAS assault rifle is the standard weapon of the Indian Armed Forces infantry today.
Initially, it was planned to have three models in the INSAS system: a rifle, a carbine (in fact, our machine gun) and a light machine gun (LMG). In 1997, the rifle and the LMG went into mass production, and in 1998 the first INSAS rifles were shown at the Independence Day parade. But then the introduction of the rifle in the army had to be postponed due to the banal lack of ammunition 5, 56 × 45 mm, which in large quantities had to be bought again from Israel.
INSAS was a copy of AKM, but … improved. The barrel has a chrome finish. There are six grooves in the barrel. The long-stroke gas piston and rotary breech are very similar to the AKM / AK-47 counterparts. But there are also differences - these are the very "improvements". First of all, this is a manual gas regulator taken from the FN FAL, and a barrel design that allows you to shoot grenades that you put on. The reload handle was placed on the left, like the HK33, and as a fire mode switch. The assault rifle is equipped with a three-shot cutoff. The average rate of fire is 650 rounds / min. The transparent plastic stores were borrowed from the Austrian Steyr AUG. There are 20- and 30-charge magazines. The sight is located in the breech and is designed to fire at 400 meters. The handle and forend can be made of wood or polymer. The forend and grip are primarily different from the AKM in that they are more similar to the same parts from the Galil rifle. Some variants received a folding stock. A bayonet is provided. There is a mount for it.
During the 1999 Kargil War in the Himalayas, rifles were used high in the mountains. There were complaints of jamming, cracking of the magazines due to cold, and automatic switching of the rifle to automatic fire when it was set to fire in a burst of three rounds. When firing from an oiled rifle, oil splashed into the shooter's eyes. Some shooting injuries were also reported. In 2001, the army received the 1B1 model with increased reliability as a result of this war, but it had other problems, for example, shops began to break.
The Nepalese army, which also received these Indian assault rifles, faced a similar problem. In August 2005, after 43 soldiers were killed in the fighting in the mountains, a spokesman for the Nepalese army called this machine substandard. In response, the Indian Embassy issued a statement rejecting all claims and explaining the problems with the misuse of weapons, after which the Nepalese were offered training in "correct" use.
On August 8, 2011, Pallam Raju, the then Minister of State of Defense of India, said in an interview with the Lok Sabha newspaper that all the defects found had been fixed. Soon, the Department of Defense issued a press release in which it reported on the number and characteristics of injuries sustained by shooting from INSAS since 2009. The statement also acknowledged the oil splash problem reported in 2003 and said the problem had been completely resolved. All injuries are attributed to improper use of the rifle and … poor quality materials, from which, it happens, some copies are made.
But all these encouraging statements ended up being a dummy.
In November 2014, the army offered to remove INSAS from service, as reliability problems were never resolved. In December 2014, an investigation was carried out on the discovered deficiencies already in the parliamentary committee. The matter also came to a hearing in the Supreme Court. But why rifles with initially low quality came into service, it was not possible to find out. But in April 2015, the government of India replaced the INSAS rifles with Kalashnikov assault rifles in some parts. Then, in early 2017, it was announced that INSAS rifles should be phased out and replaced with rifles capable of firing 7.62x51mm NATO rounds. In March 2019, Indian media reported that INSAS would be replaced with Russian AK-203 assault rifles produced in India under the joint venture established.
The improved model of INSAS was supposed to be the Excalibur assault rifle with a firing range of 400 m, which is lighter and shorter than the INSAS automatic assault rifle. In July 2015, it was reported that INSAS might replace a modified INSAS rifle (MIR), which is nothing more than a variant of the Excalibur rifle. This decision was taken by General Dalbir Singh, who again wanted to have his own, "national" rifle. It was also reported that another prototype of the Excalibur, the AR-2, is being prepared, in which the 7.62x39mm cartridge from the AK-47 will be used.
The prototype "Excalibur" has a right angle exhaust on the barrel to reduce recoil and a traditional switch for automatic and single modes of fire. But it was decided not to use the mode with a cut-off for three shots. By September 2015, the sample was tested in water and mud, and four foreign rifles that participated in this tender did not pass them. It was also reported that 200 rifles were produced, which should undergo official trials at the end of 2015. And it seems that Indian submachine guns also passed these tests successfully.
But in September 2019, the Indian Ministry of Defense announced a new tender for the purchase of 185,000 rifles of 7.62 × 51 mm caliber. But since the tender procedure may again stretch for several years, and the INSAS rifles, as stated, are “hopelessly outdated”, the military department decided to purchase 5, 56-mm Excalibur Mark I assault rifles as a “temporary weapon”. And they will be used in the army until the new 7, 62-mm rifles enter service. The Excalibur rifle is distinguished from the basic version of INSAS by its reduced weight, shorter barrel (400 mm) and the presence of a Picatinny rail. In fact, it is exactly the same shortened machine that was originally planned in the INSAS system. The new machine guns will be primarily armed with specialized anti-insurgency units of the Indian ground forces.
All countries have a custom to be proud of the fact that their military equipment and weapons are in demand somewhere else. That is, they sell them on an international, so to speak, scale. And India is no exception! She managed to promote her INSAS machines into service with the Royal Army of Bhutan, as well as in Nepal. Since 2001, the Nepalese army has received about 26,000 rifles supplied by India with a 70% subsidy. They also ended up in Oman: in 2010, the Royal Omani Army began using INSAS rifles sent in accordance with the defense agreement signed between India and Oman in 2003. And they are also used by the African Republic of Swaziland. Inevitably, a saying comes to mind: tell me who your friend is, and I will tell you who you are.
Well, the "420 principle", or, in Russian speaking, with a pine forest, applied to the creation of weapons is generally not bad and even works very well. Works, but only in those cases when it is used by talented people. Craftsmen can use it, but their handicrafts are also "handicraft".
