Is it INSAS rifle caused nightmare to our Indian soldiers during Kargil war 

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                                                In this blog we see about, is it INSAS rifle caused nightmare to our Indian soldiers during Kargil war?

My answer for this question is YES.

why because, before that we can first know about the history of insas rifle? 

  

The above image shows that a soldier using the insas rifle during drill.

Actually, the story behind insas rifle is, the development of insas rifle was started in midst of 1980s.  When Indian army released a general staff qualitative requirement for a new assault rifle to replace locally produced licensed copies of Indian L1A1 self-loading rifle, which rifle is used by Indian army using from since 1961.  The L1A1 self-loading rifle is entered the service after the war between India and China.  But the L1A1 self-loading rifle is more weight, and it has more length compared to other rifles also it was difficult to update.  Indian army decided to replace the self-loading rifle, and the project was taken by ARDE Pune under DRDO.  After studying more designs finally insas rifle was born in 1989 and it was entered into service in 1990.  

The self-loading rifle is chambered in 7.62 x 51 mm fully powered cartridge but insas was chambered in 5.56 x 45 mm intermediate cartridge. Compared to self-loading rifle the stopping power of insas rifle is low. 

In up-coming blogs we can talk about the types of the cartridges.

Design details

              Basically, the insas is derived from FN FAL, AK 47, Styr-Aug, HK 33 and IMI Galil.

Basically, the insas rifles bolt and bolt carrier, pistol grip, receiver, recoil spring is exactly similar to the Ak series rifles.  Gas regulator is taken from self -loading rifle also the carrying handle is taken from the self -loading rifle. The charging handle is taken from HK 33 and the polymer or wooden buttstock is taken from the IMI Galil.  The plastic magazine is taken from Styr-Aug, but the magazine feed lips and is almost similar to the Ak series magazine. Also, the trigger system is taken from AK 107.

Finally, FN FAL + AK 47 + AK 107 + Styr-Aug + Hk33 +                IMI Galil = INSAS

The cyclic rate of fire is at 650 rpm and an effective range of 400 meters.

Performance of the rifle in Kargil war

              As an Indian I thought insas rifle is good effort, but it needs more engineering. 

Also, the insas rifle was battle tested in the 1999 Kargil war, the test gives the poor report.  The war continues three months, war was fought in the high altitudes of the Himalayas. Were, temperature would go as low as - 20 degrees Celsius.

During the conflict the soldiers face the problem like,

1.) Cracking the polymer magazine due to cold weather.

2.) Serious stoppages or weapon jamming during the 

      conflict due to cold weather.

3.) Reliability issues such as firing in full auto when set 

      3 round-burst.

4.) Spraying the lube oil into the eye of the operator.

5.) The weight is the one of the problems here because                              weight of the Ak 47 is lesser than insas rifle.

6.) The breakage of the rifle parts such as firing pin etc...

7.) Miss fire also the one of the problems in insas rifle.

8.) The stopping power of the insas rifle is too low compared to old 

      self-loading rifle.

9.) Accuracy problems.

10.) Double feed problems.

Also, I ask a question about insas rifle to a soldier, he told it is good but the soldiers face heating issues in the bottom hand guard when it is put into sustained fire mode.

And another question I ask which rifle you must choose INSAS or AK?

The answer from him is AK47 why because Ak is lighter weight than insas also it has a high stopping power than insas.

• Think yourself, if you are in combat the above malfunctions happen in your rifle, what should you do? this is the nightmare caused to our soldiers during conflict.

In upcoming blogs, we can see details about the operation and updated version of the insas rifle.