The Indian Army will be getting 70,000 more Sig Sauer assault rifles which will be given to troops deployed in counterterrorism operations and other duties.
The approval for this procurement worth over Rs 800 crore was given at a high-level meeting of the Indian Defence Ministry held recently and attended by the top brass of the military, government sources told ANI.
India has already indicted over 70,000 of these American-made assault rifles, which are being used by forces in the Ladakh sector along the China front and also in Kashmir valley.
The plan to buy these rifles was taken by the force initially as it wanted to have a rifle with a longer range.
So far, India has already purchased over 72,400 7.62 x 51mm calibre Sig Sauer assault rifles, of which Army got 66,400, Air Force 4000 and Navy 2000 from SIG Sauer of the US.
The SiG 716 assault rifle was chosen by the force of several candidates because of its high calibre and extended range.
It is also reportedly more lethal than the INSAS Rifle or the AK-47 and its variants in the service.
