MKU, Thales to Co-develop F90 Close Quarter Battle Rifles, Optronic Devices for Indian Army

India’s MKU and Thales have signed two MoUs for strategic co-operation in the development and production of optronic devices and F90close quarter battle (CQB) rifle for soldiers.

The optronic devices will be co-developed by Thales and MKU and both the optronic devices and F90 rifles will be manufactured in India at MKU’s facilities in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. These products will be offered to the Indian army and homeland security forces under the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the Government, the companies said in a joint statement Tuesday.

The strategic co-operation for optronic devices between Thales and MKU is eyeing manufacturing of optronics equipment including weapon sights, night vision goggles, handheld thermal imagers and thermal infrared sensor engine for soldier systems, and other image intensification and thermal imaging systems for soldiers and platforms respectively.

For weapons, the two companies plan to cooperate so that MKU could set-up an assembly and manufacturing plant in India for the carbine version of the F90 assault rifle, combat-proven and already in service with Australian Defence Forces. The F90CQB (Close Quarter Battle) developed with MKU will be meant for Indian conditions and requirements.