A protective carbine designed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully undergone the final phase of user trials on Thursday meeting all parameters, the company has claimed.
In a separate development, an India-Brazil joint venture to manufacture ammunition locally is set to be ready by mid 2021, an official of that country said.
“This [carbine trial] has paved the way for induction into the Services. This was the last leg of trials in a series of user-trials, which have been carried out in extreme temperature conditions in summer and high altitudes in winter,” the DRDO said in a statement.
The 5.56x30 mm Joint Venture Protective Carbine (JVPC) had successfully met the stringent performance criteria of reliability and accuracy in addition to quality trials conducted by the Director General Quality Assurance (DGQA), it stated.
The JVPC, a gas-operated semi bull-pup automatic weapon, had a firing rate of more than 700 rounds a minute. Its effective range was more than 100 m and weighed about 3 kg with key features such as high reliability, low recoil, retractable butt, ergonomic design, single-hand firing capability, and multiple picatinny rails, the DRDO said. These features made it a very potent weapon for counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations.
The carbine has been designed as per the Indian Army’s service quality requirements by the Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), a Pune-based laboratory of the DRDO. It is manufactured at the Small Arms Factory, Kanpur, and the ammunition at Kirkee, Pune.
The weapon has passed the Union Home Ministry trials, and procurement action was initiated by the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and various State police organisations. It was unveiled by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during DefExpo- 2020 at Lucknow.
Ammunition manufacture tie-up
A joint venture between SSS Defence of India and Companhia Brasileira de Cartuchos (CBC) of Brazil, the world’s second largest ammunition manufacturer, is set to start operations in August 2021 in Andhra Pradesh, said Fernando Saim from CBC Global Ammunition.
“The joint venture will focus not only on supplying the Indian market but also reach out to the region,” Mr. Saim said at a webinar organised by the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers.
A second joint venture between Taurus and Jindal Defence is also under way.
