NEW DELHI – The Indian army plans to equip around a lakh soldiers with newassault rifles this year, invoking a key clause in India’s arms buyingrules that governs speeding up purchases to meet “urgent operationalrequirements,” said a senior officer familiar with the road map forinfantry modernisation, Hindustan Times has reported.

After a series of failed efforts to equip soldiers with the basic weapon,the army has now pinned its hopes on buying around 100,000 assault riflesthrough the fast track procedure (FTP) prescribed in the DefenceProcurement Procedure, 2016.

In need of 7.7 lakh assault rifles, the army has mapped out a three-prongedapproach to meet the requirement. The new assault rifles will replace theflaw-ridden 5.56mm INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) rifles inducted morethan two decades ago, a weapon that has outlived its usefulness.

“Broadly speaking, we intend to meet up to 15% (1.15 lakh rifles) of ourrequirement through the FTP. The Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and theprivate sector will be involved in two separate programmes to supply theremaining numbers,” said another officer tracking the project.

Up to 25% of the army’s requirement could be met by the OFB and the lion’sshare of 60% is likely to go to the private sector, he said. The officerdid not give exact numbers, choosing to speak only in percentage terms. Thearmy moved a case to buy assault rifles more than a decade ago.

It was forced to retract a tender for the rifles in June 2015 as none ofthe weapons met the force’s requirements during trials. The army hasrevised and finalised the qualitative requirements for the new assaultrifles and will seek the defence acquisition council’s (DAC) “acceptance ofnecessity” for the weapon under the fast track procedure.

The FTP route to meet urgent operational requirements has to be authorisedby a special DAC meeting chaired by the defence minister based on aproposal approved by a service chief, paving the way for issuing a tender.

The army has revised the caliber of the new assault rifles to the morelethal 7.62mm instead of 5.56mm.

The FTP can be invoked in cases where “undue/unforeseen delay” in buyingweapons is seen to be adversely impacting the military’s capacity andpreparedness.

According to rules, weapons sought under the FTP should already be themilitary’s armoury, have been trial evaluated or be in service in foreignmilitaries so that the time required for evaluation is minimised.

Experts said the army’s casualties in counter-terror operations could bereduced by half if soldiers were provided better assault rifles.

The army is also making renewed efforts to buy more than 54,000 lightmachine guns and 44,618 carbines.