India On Track to Become Major Producer of the AK-203 Assault Rifle
Production will be fully localized by the end of next year. The first models assembled and produced in India were provided to troops in June 2023, but they had only 5 percent of components from India, with the remaining parts made in Russia.
Throughout much of the Cold War, India was a major military client of the Soviet Union. That continued after the dissolution of the Communist nation in 1991, with New Delhi purchasing tanks, airplanes, and even an aircraft carrier from Russia.
India has begun to turn away as it seeks to develop its own aircraft and armored vehicles. It launched its first domestically produced aircraft carrier as well.
But the Indian military remains firmly committed to the Kalashnikov assault rifle.
India was an adopter of the AK-203 and is now manufacturing the weapon under license. Production will be fully localized by the end of next year. The first models assembled and produced in India were provided to troops in June 2023, but they had only 5 percent of components from India, with the remaining parts made in Russia.
“The production of it in India will be done in 5 stages. That is, stage 1 to stage 5, based on the percentage of indigenized content,” Maj. Gen. Sudhir Kumar Sharma, the managing director of Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL), a joint Russian-Indian venture, told TASS this month. “I am targeting December 2025 to finish off the 100% indigenization in this country.”
India’s Ministry of Defense signed a contract with IRRPL in 2021 for the manufacture of the rifles. The company produces older small arms now in service with the Indian military – notably the INSAS battle rifle. The AK-203 is now being adopted by all branches of the armed forces, with the majority headed to Indian army units.
“Out of our orders, almost 95% of orders are from the Indian Army, 5% is from the Air Force and the Navy. So we are going to give the Air Force and the Navy possibly next AK rifles,” added the Indian military commander.
Sharma has said that 35,000 of the rifles have reached the troops and have received praise from soldiers for reliability and ergonomics. An additional 20,000 are on track to be delivered by the end of 2024, with that batch featuring 15 percent of its components made in India. Production will reach 600 AK-203 rifles per day by 2026, by which time the Kalashnikovs will have largely replaced the small arms now in service.
It may not be just India that adopts the Russian-designed Kalashnikov assault rifle.
“Today our rifles have become so popular and the articles that you have been reading in the media are so positive now that I have already been approached by 8 to 10 countries who are interested in buying the rifles made in India AK-203. They are looking at us because Kalashnikov rifles are very famous,” added Sharma. “As a part of the Inter-Governmental Agreement document, it is very clearly mentioned that both India and Russia will decide after the rifle is made in India, whom to sell it to. So anytime I want to sell anybody, India and Russia, that is, our shareholders will sit out together - this country we can sell, this country we cannot sell. We will decide it together.”
The variant being produced for India features a 415 mm barrel and has a fixed side-folding anatomical Magpul buttstock, but it is otherwise similar in design to the version being employed by the Russian military. It is equipped with a reinforced cover and fitted with a Picatinny rail on the forend for the mounting of a variety of optics. A MIL-STD-1912 standard mount is outfitted to the lower side of the forend, allowing for the installation of bipods, foregrip, or tactical lights or lasers. In addition, a 40 mm GP-34 under-barrel grenade launcher can be mounted to the AK-203.
The assault rifle weighs 3.8 kg empty, has a rate of fire of 700 rounds per minute, and is accurate to a range of 800 meters.
Author Experience and Expertise: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected]
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