HISTORY OF THE INSAS RIFLE
History of the INSAS Rifle
History:
After the India’s
independence in 1947, the Indian military relied on a variety of small arms,
many of which were leftovers from British rule. These included the Lee-Enfield
Bolt Action rifles and later, the FN FAL or L1A1 SLR (Self Loading Rifle)
produced under license as the Indian 1A rifle. The development of the INSAS
began in the mid-1980s, when the Indian Army released a general staff
qualitative requirement for a new assault rifle to replace locally produced
licensed copies of the L1A1 self-loading rifles, which
the Army was using since 1961, and it was introduced in the 1961 Indo-Pak war.
The new assault rifle was to chamber it in 5.56×45mm NATO, unlike the L1A1 SLR rifle which is chambered in 7.62×51mm NATO.
After studying a number
of designs, the Armament Research and Development
Establishment (ARDE) in Pune undertook the task to design and develop India's first
assault rifle. The development and user trials of the new rifle – INSAS was
completed by 1989 and entered into service in 1990.
Originally, three
variants were planned in the INSAS system, a rifle, a carbine and a squad automatic weapon (SAW)
or Light machine gun (LMG). In 1997,
the rifle and the LMG went into mass production. In 1998, the first INSAS
rifles were displayed at the republic day parade. The
introduction of the rifle was delayed due to the lack of adequate 5.56×45mm
ammunition, large quantities of the same were bought from Israel Military Industries. As per the specific requirements of the Indian Army
formulated in the later eighties. The usual delays hounded the programme,
stretching the design development across a decade. The OFB, tasked with mass
production of the INSAS rifles took another five years to get going; the family
of INSAS Rifles was first seen with Indian Army uniforms only on Republic Day
1998.
The
war that broke out in Kargil next year saw the INSAS put to test, and a spate
of complaints about malfunctioning and build quality of the rifle poured out of
Himalayan battlefields. The rifle jammed, its polymer magazine cracked in the
cold, it would go fully automatic when set for a three-round burst. Many jawans
remained unconvinced about the stopping power of its 5.56 mm round; they wanted
their heavy 7.62s back. It didn’t help that the Nepal Army, one of the few
INSAS customers outside India, had its complaints too. The INSAS glitches were
fixed but advancement in firearms technology had rendered the weapons system
too obsolete for the rapidly modernising Indian Army by then.
According
to Lt. Gen. (Retd) P C Katoch, a Parachute Regiment officer, the INSAS family
were “not the best” of weapons. “There were a number of problems with these
rifles,” he said, noting that the “DRDO and OFB could come up with only such
weapons after 15 years of work”.
The
war that broke out in Kargil next year saw the INSAS put to test, and a spate
of complaints about malfunctioning and build quality of the rifle poured out of
Himalayan battlefields. The rifle jammed, its polymer magazine cracked in the
cold, it would go fully automatic when set for a three-round burst. Many jawans
remained unconvinced about the stopping power of its 5.56 mm round; they wanted
their heavy 7.62s back. It didn’t help that the Nepal Army, one of the few
INSAS customers outside India, had its complaints too. The INSAS glitches were
fixed but advancement in firearms technology had rendered the weapons system
too obsolete for the rapidly modernising Indian Army by then. In the words
of another senior officer: “The DRDO and OFB have failed to develop one good,
modern weapon with which the troops are satisfied. As a result, we had to go in
for foreign-made equipment and have issued tenders for these.
India fought the short 1962 war with
China using the vintage Enfield .303 bolt action rifles, which had a deadly
effect, but were horribly outdated by that time. Chinese troops carried their
versions of the venerable AK-47 and were much better prepared, overrunning
Indian troops easily.
After the war,
the need for a new rifle for the Army led to the Ishapore Rifle Factory
developing the 7.62 mm Ishapore Self-Loading Rifle, which was a
copy of the Belgian FN-FAL rifle. However, this too was a single-shot rifle,
and outlived its utility by the late 1970s.
In 1987, when the
Indian Army was rushed to Sri Lanka for a peace keeping mission during the
island nation’s civil war, its personnel were still carrying Ishapore
self-loading rifles, which were nearly 20 years old by then. This weapon is
deadly but bulky, and was no match for the Russian AK-47, the preferred weapon
of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which targeted the Indian forces.
The worst off
were the para-commandos. This was a time when the three battalions of the
Indian Army were still to be renamed the Special Forces. The para commandos
were expected to carry out special operations, which normal Infantry units were
not trained or equipped to do. But for this, they too had to depend on the
bulky Ishapore, or the vintage carbine that was an improved version of the
World War II Sten gun that had been developed by the British as a cheap weapon
to quickly replace losses in the war. Clearly, the Indian Army was woefully
ill-equipped for battle.
Worried at this
mismatch in firepower, the Defence Research and Development Organisation,
tasked with developing new weapons for the Army, hastily tried to produce a
fully-automatic rifle by modifying the Ishapore Self-Loading Rifle. But every
burst of fire from this rifle produced such recoil that the weapon would start
pointing skywards as soon as the trigger was pressed. It proved to be a
disaster in battle and was quickly abandoned.
Work began on
producing a new rifle, with a smaller calibre, which would be lighter and more
effective. This 5.56 mm calibre weapon was developed by the Pune-based Armament
Development Research Establishment and called the INSAS. It was originally
envisaged as a family of weapons with different capabilities for varied uses.
But none of the others ever materialised.
The INSAS has
features copied from several different rifles, making it a mishmash of various
designs without any thought to the specific needs of the Indian soldier. The
Indian Army has been lugging around this rifle for nearly 30 years now.
Ideally,
the development of rifles is a scientific process, which involves the
experience of the fighting troops and the strategic aims of the country they
serve. Every great rifle, be it the AK-47 or the United States’ M4, has gone
through extensive battlefield research before it was developed and brought into
service.
Researchers
developing these rifles looked at reliability under adverse conditions, fire
power, ease of use, weight and ergonomics. They looked at past data of how many
bullets were expended to kill a single enemy and produced designs that
addressed a host of complex requirements.
Unfortunately, in India, despite the rich experience of the Indian Army
soldier, these inputs have never been taken into account. For instance, the
Indian soldier fights in vastly different terrain – from the heights of Ladakh
to the jungles of the North East to the deserts of Rajasthan. From moisture to
dust and extreme temperatures, they contend with a variety of conditions.
However, rifle designers at the Defence Research and Development
Organisation and Armament Development Research Establishment have always
borrowed from the West, without looking at local requirements or strategic
interests. While designing the INSAS, designers went by NATO concepts. At that
time, the NATO militaries were re-thinking the calibre of their weapons and
decided to go with the 5.56 mm version. The idea behind it drew on the wars in
the past. The western rifle designers felt that lower calibre bullets would
allow soldiers to carry more weight. But the most important consideration was
the belief that the smaller calibre would only injure the enemy, and not kill.
This would mean that an injured soldier would end up bogging down at least
three others, who would need to carry him, therefore tying down more troops.
However, there was just one problem with this premise. Body armour was being
developed simultaneously, and it soon rendered the 5.56 mm weapon useless.
The INSAS rifle proved its worth over the last
20 years. It will continue to serve for some more time till the multi-barrel
rifle goes into production. We still recall the day when RFI supplied the first
batch of 4,000 rifles to the Army in March, 1994. There were initial hiccups
but the glitches were gradually ironed out. There was extreme pressure during
the Kargil Conflict as damaged and jammed weapons returned to the factory and
fresh lots had to be sent out. Workers at Ishapore worked day and night to repair
and clean the guns and make them battle-ready," After meeting the
country’s war reserves, RFI started meeting the demands of central paramilitary
forces. Finally, state police forces also replaced their 7.62 mm self-loading
rifles with the lighter 5.56.
At that time, it was the only answer to the AK
47 Assault rifles used by terrorists and enemy soldiers. The SLR also
manufactured at Ishapore were for too heavy and un maneuverable for the
infantry soldier to react fast enough. The concept of battle also changed. It
was no longer thought necessary to kill an enemy soldier with a heavy-caliber
7.62 projectile. Strategists suggested that it would be better to injure the
enemy with a lighter 5.56 mm one and leave him. This would burden his comrades
as they would not be able to leave him lying behind in that condition.
The first combat use of the rifle was during the Kargil War in 1999.
The INSAS rifle saw limited use in the Indian Army's
counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir, but was extensively used by
Central Armed Police Forces in combating Maoist insurgency.
Design Details of INSAS:
The
INSAS is primarily based on the AKM but incorporates features from other
rifles. It has a chrome-plated bore. The barrel has a six-groove rifling.
The basic gas operated long stroke piston, and the rotating bolt are similar to the AKM/AK-47.
It
has a manual gas regulator, carrying handle and 20 round detachable box
magazine similar to that of FN FAL,
and a gas cutoff for launching grenades. The charging handle is on the left instead of on the bolt carrier,
similar in operation to the HK33. The fire selector is placed on
the left side of the receiver above the pistol grip, it can
be set to semi–auto, three round burst and full auto. To set it to safe, the
selector has to be rotated all the way up, which will block the sear and
prevent the rifle from firing. It has three modes of fire – semi-automatic,
three-round burst and semi-automatic modes. The
barrel profile and fore sight and rear sight profile is taken from the FN CAL
also the flash suppressor is derived from the FNCAL, and the Fore sight post is
derived from the FN CAL.
The
INSAS rifle featured with the Three round burst (TRB) the TRB operating
mechanism is exactly similar to the FN CAL. And the INSAS rifles trigger or
fire control group is derived from the Ak series rifles.
The
receiver, top cover, pistol grip, Triger guard, Magazine catch, Rear trunnion
and the front trunnion is exactly same to the AK family of rifles.
The furniture is either made of wood or polymer. The polymer butt is similar to FN FAL, the foldable
butt is similar to the IMI GALIL and top and bottom hand guard assemblies similar
to the FN CAL. Some variants have a folding butt. A bayonet can also be attached to it.
The guns take 20- or 30-round magazines; there are made like
the Steyr AUG and are made out of
polymer. The 30-round magazine is made for the LMG version but can be
also used in the rifle. The flash suppressor also accepts
NATO-specification rifle grenades.
The INSAS is derived from the rifles that are mentioned below:
FN CAL with foldable butt
Performance of INSAS Rifle:
The INSAS assault rifle was battle tested
in the 1999 Kargil War. The three-month long war was
fought in the high altitudes of the Himalayas, where
temperature would go as low as –20 degrees Celsius.
During the conflict, the rifle
encountered some problems such as occasional often serious stoppage, spraying
the oil into the operator’s eye, cracking of polymer magazine due to the cold
weather and some other reliability issues such as firing in full auto when set
for 3 shot burst. Similar complaints were also received from the Nepalese Army. In the Kargil
war, neither the INSAS proved reliable, nor the Army was satisfied with the new
rifle.
The Indian Army, which was used to
the 7.62×51mm NATO round for
almost three decades, the jawans was dissatisfied with the stopping power
of 5.56×45mm NATO rounds.
The ammunition provide by the OFB is not
a good quality and the rifle will suck in the three round burst mode because of
the low gas pressure produced by the OFB low quality ammunition. In this case
the using the OFB ammo the required amount of the gas pressure is not produced
to push the bolt and bolt carrier in rearward, this will lead to failure to
eject, failure to feed problems also the OFB ammo have some other problems like
the sensitivity of the primer, may be highly sensitive it will lead to Miss fire
malfunction.
The Nepalese Army
had similar complaints. In August 2005, after 43 soldiers were killed in a
clash with Maoists, a Nepalese Army spokesman called the rifles they used
substandard and said the counter-insurgency operation would have been more
efficient with better weapons.
Even now we hear
of Indian infantrymen in combat zones preferring to fight with AK-47 rifles,
just like US infantrymen in Vietnam preferred it to the M-14 rifle, which was
said to be more likely to jam. Recognising this, the Indian Army has now
decided to phase out the INSAS. In 2011, it issued tenders for a new quartet of
infantry weapons
CRPF, which is deployed for anti- Naxal operations, has decided to
shun its standard weapon of combat, the indigenous INSAS rifle, and henceforth
arm its troops exclusively with the AK series of assault rifles. The force has
also sought to procure 20,000 new AK series rifles for its troops deployed in
the Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas in various states and
counter-insurgency theatres in the North-East after it found that the INSAS
rifle was not proving to be as “operationally suitable” as the Russian made
AK-47 and -56 series of combat rifles.
The major areas of
concern were the overheating of barrel after continuous usage of an hour
pointing to serious quality issues in its metallurgy. Its polymer magazine also
developed cracks due to cold weather. There were also too many stoppages
experienced while firing as well as firing a 3-shot burst when set for a
“single shot’ mode.
Between 2015-16 and 2019-20, 13-17 per cent of the
INSAS rifles were returned for rectification due to defects in components like
the breech lock, piston extension, body housing, burst control and others.
And now, a recent report by the Comptroller and
Auditor General (CAG) has thrown more light on the issues that plague the gun.
In a 2016-2019 audit scrutiny conducted in a
sample of 26 cases of ‘defect investigation’ in small weapons, 14 were from the
5.56 mm INSAS rifle. The repetitive defects were the bursting of cartridge case
in the chamber, bulging of housing body and cracks in the breech block/barrel
extension.
“The rifles were declared ‘un-serviceable’ in
all cases. Burst of cartridge case was due to excessive pressure produced in
the chamber for lower/higher hardness of components, improper tempering of
breech block, and faulty process control in hardening treatment.
The audit probe committee concluded that the
problems were due to “pre-existing metallurgical deficiencies in the
barrels/components and deviations in hardness of the components due to improper
heat treatment process. All these problems indicate manufacturing problems of a
metallurgical nature in the concerned weapons.”
The Army’s reluctance to procure the INSAS also
results from a shift in focus to a different caliber weapon.
The indigenously
built rifle was sent to Muscat in March and is currently undergoing trial for
the Oman army.
Oman has informed
us that the rifles have successfully passed the trial run. INSAS will, in all
likelihood, be the standard assault rifle of the Royal Oman Army,” said an OFB
deputy director-rank official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he is not
authorised to speak to the media. The rifles were subjected to endurance tests
for extreme desert temperatures and sandstorms and performed well in both
conditions, sources in OFB and Ministry of Defence told Hindustan Times. Developed
in OFB’S Ishapore factory, 45 km north of Kolkata, in 1998, it has three
variants an assault rifle, a light machine gun and a carbine. India will be
supplying the 5.56 mm assault rifle to Oman.
The weapon has
been sent as part of the India-Oman comprehensive defence agreement of 2003.
Variants of INSAS Rifle:
The AR variant can be fired in single round or
three-round burst mode. A telescopic sight or a passive night sight can be
mounted on it. It can take NATO-standard 5.56×45mm SS109
and M193 ammunition. It comes with a bayonet. It has a mount point for
the ARDE Under Barrel Grenade Launcher, along with a gas-block for launching
grenades and grenade iron-sights.
The flash suppressor has a blank-firing adaptor. It also has a foldable butt version.
It is being replaced in Indian service by the AK-203.
The AR has four subvariants:
·
INSAS 1A
·
INSAS 1A1
·
INSAS 1B
·
INSAS 1B1:
Further improved variant introduced in 2001 based on Indian Army feedback.
LMG
The LMG (Light Machine Gun) differs from the
standard rifle in possessing a longer range of 700 m, as compared to 400 m
range for their assault rifle counterparts. It has a longer and heavier barrel
with revised rifling and bipod. The LMG version uses 30-round magazines and can
also accept the 20-round INSAS AR magazine. This model fires in semi and full auto. It also has a foldable-butt version.
Specifications:
Type: Assault rifle, Light machine
gun
Place of origin: India
Service history
In service: 1998–present
Used by:
Wars: Kargil War, Nepalese Civil War, Naxalite–Maoist
insurgency, Insurgency in Northeast India, Myanmar Civil War
Production history
Designed: 1980s–1997
Manufacturer: Armament
Research and Development Establishment, Ordnance Factories Board
Produced: 1994–present
No. built: 100,000 (Assault Rifles) and 6,000 (LMG)
(2012) 700,000–900,000 (2019)
Mass: 4.018 kg (8.86 lb) (without
magazine)
Length: 960 mm (37.8 in)
Barrel length: 464 mm (18.3 in)
Cartridg:5.56×45mm NATO
Action: Gas-operated, Rotating bolt
Rate of fire: 600–650 rounds/min
Muzzle velocity: 915 m/s
(3,002 ft/s)
Effective firing range: 400m (INSAS Rifle), 600 m: Point targets
(INSAS LMG), 700 m: Area target (INSAS LMG)
Feed system: 20- or 30-round detachable box magazine
Sights: In-built iron sights, mount point
for telescopic or night sight
Operators of INSAS Rifle:
· Bhutan: Used by the Royal
Bhutan Army.
- Eswatini
- India: Assault rifle and LMG variants in use.
·
Indian Armed Forces, to be replaced by 670,000 AK-203 rifles and 72,400 SIG-716i Patrol rifles as per the latest contract. INSAS LMGs using 5.56×45mm to be replaced by IWI Negev
NG5, and the
ones using 7.62×51mm will be replaced by the IWI Negev
NG7 as
per latest contract for 16,479 NG7s.
- BSF
- CRPF
- ITBP
- CISF
- AR
- SSB
- State police
- Nepal: The Nepalese Army had
received about 26,000 rifles since 2001, supplied at a 70% subsidy by
India. As of July 20, 2020, the Nepali Army transferred 600 INSAS rifles
to the Nepali Armed Police Force.
- Oman: In 2010, the Royal Army of Oman started using the INSAS rifles sent
to them as per a defense agreement signed in 2003 between India and Oman.
Non-state actors
- Maiost: Use
INSAS rifles looted from killed Indian police officers or stolen from
police stations. Others secretly acquired from Rifle Factory Ishapore by corrupt officials.
- Myanmar peoples Defense force: 1B1 variant.
Replacing the INSAS Rifle:
Even as India counters Chinese
aggression on the border, the Army is going to place an order for 72,000 more
Sig 716 assault rifles from the United States. "We are going to place
orders for 72,000 more of these assault rifles after receiving the first lot of
equal number of these guns from America," Army sources told India Today. The
advanced American assault rifles have been acquired in a bid to fight terrorism
and for carrying out major operations in Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian Army
received the first batch of American SIG Sauer assault rifles last year in
December.
The first lot of 10,000 SIG 716
assault rifles arrived in India on December 10. The Indian Army is looking to
move to a rifle that fires a larger, more powerful rifle cartridge than the
5.56x45mm intermediate cartridge used by the INASAS. The SIG716 uses the more
powerful 7.62x51mm cartridge. Earlier, India had signed a Rs 700 crore deal to
buy 72,000 of these rifles from the US under fast-track procedures. The
induction of these new assault rifles with the troops in operation will help
them to operate more effectively in engagements with the terrorists in Pakistan
and POK.
The Army is likely to sign a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) in a month for the procurement of over 7.5 lakh AK-203
assault rifles, which are to be manufactured locally by an India-Russia joint
venture (JV), a Defense source said. About 1 lakh rifles will come directly
from Russia and the remaining will be manufactured by the JV in India. The MoU
should be signed in a month,” a Defense official About 1 lakh rifles will come
directly from Russia and the remaining will be manufactured by the JV in India.
The MoU should be signed in a month,” a Defense official said.
Inter-governmental
The rifles will be manufactured by the Indo-Russian
Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL) at Korwa in Uttar Pradesh. The facility is being
set up between the Ordnance Factories Board (OFB) from the Indian side, and
Rosoboron Exports and Kalashnikov on the Russian side. The OFB owns 50.5%
equity, and Russian side holds the remaining 49.5%. The JV was formed following
the Inter-governmental Agreement between India and Russia in February 2019.
To have oversight over the process and ensure timely
deliveries, the Army has appointed Major General Sanjeev Senger as the Chief
Executive Officer of IRRPL. Officials said the JV has obtained all the
requisite licenses for production and export. The Ministry of Defense has
already floated a Request for Proposal (RFP) to the JV for the supply of 6.71
lakh rifles.
Reviewing the operationalization of the project few
months back, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh had stressed on the need “for 100%
indigenization of the rifle as per the project understanding and focusing on
the export of the rifles from IRRPL to other friendly countries”.
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