Assault Rifles Used By Indian Armed Forces

A weapon plays an Important role in a soldier’s life. Modern Weapons are totally changed from what they were in ancient times. The current modernized and remotely operated weapons are more powerful and add more muscles to a soldier. There are many weapons in Indian Armed Forces arsenal, from big to long range and small to short range for face to face fighting conditions.

So what is an Assault rifle mean? The rifle, which hand held and easy to carry and have selective fire modes is called an Assault rifle. The selective firing modes helps soldiers to decide how to use their ammo as per the conditions.

Now here we will be discussing the assault rifles used by Indian Armed Forces. Indian Armed Forces consist of three major parts: Army, Navy and Air Force. As most of the ground and face to face fight is done by the Indian army, most of the assault rifles are used by them as compared to the Air force and Navy. 

 

INSAS  

 

Indian Small Arms System or INSAS is the mostly used assault rifle in Indian Armed Forces and was originated in India. It also has a light machine gun variant. It has its basic design similar to AKM but has some points of difference too. This rifle is being used by Nepal, Bhutan and Oman army. But some issues of jamming, cracking of the magazine and semi-automatic mode were scars on it. But its variants have eradicated these drawbacks.

IMI Tavor TAR-21 

 

This rifle is also used by Special Forces of Indian Armed Forces. This Israeli made rifle having selective firing system (semi and fully automatic modes). The rifle’s birth was aimed to build a reliable and durable rifle, which needs low maintenance. This makes it step ahead of carbine rifles.

T91 assault rifle  

 

It is a Taiwan made rifle and is used by Special Forces of Indian Army and Garud of Indian air force. The rifle has got firing speed of about 800 rounds per minute. This rifle is based on T86 assault rifle with features of M16 and AR-18 rifles. It has 4 firing modes i.e. safe mode, semi-automatic mode (1 bust), 3 burst mode and fully automatic mode.

M4 Carbine

 

This US made rifle is in the list of rifles used by Special Forces of Indian Armed Forces. This rifle is a developed version of the M16A2 rifle having short length and light weight. And is used by US forces as a replacement of M16. It also supports mounting of the M203 grenade launcher. It is also appreciated for its capability to support many accessories.M4 carbine

Multi caliber individual weapon system (MCIWS) – It is also an indigenously developed rifle by India which is expected to replace the mostly used INSAS assault rifle. It has got some special feature that deserves appreciation and its induction into the army will improve the fighting skills of soldiers.

AKM 

 

This Assault rifle is used in Indian Armed Forces, which has a basic design as that of AK-47 rifles. AKM is a modernized form of famous AK-47. It has a firing rate of 600 rounds per minute and comes with semi-automatic and fully automatic modes. Named as AvtomatKalashnikova, AK series is automatic rifles that were found a hit among soldiers after its invention.

AKM AK103

 

Apart from AKM, Indian Armed Forces uses AK 103 from AK family. AK 103 is also a variant of AK 47 additionally having side folding stock. It is also used by special forces of Indian Navy i.e. MARCOS.

APS amphibian rifle 

 

The APS amphibian/underwater rifle is used by MARCOS by Indian navy. This underwater assault rifle originated in the Soviet Union and has firing speed of 600 rounds per minute. The effective firing range of this rifle decreases with an increase in depth. It has different shaped bullets and has good range and accuracy as compared to ordinary bullets.APS amphibious rifle.

FN F2000

 

This is an Assault rifle by Belgium and used by a Special Protection Group of India. The rifle can fire at a swift speed of 850 rounds per minute. The gun is fully automatic with NATO box magazines and is currently used by many countries.

SG 551

 

It is the assault rifle made in Switzerland and exclusively used by National security guards, which has a major part of the Indian army. It is based on SG550 and has shorter length than SG 551 with firing speed of about 650 rounds per minute. The rifle is being used by France, Canada Brazil, Germany and many other nations.