Russia has signed a contract with India for the production of AK203 Kalashnikov assault rifles in the republic. This was announced on December 6 on the air of the Rossiya 24 TV channel by Dmitry Shugaev, Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSVTS) of the Russian Federation.
He noted that Moscow and New Delhi have signed a number of important agreements
"In particular, a long-awaited contract was signed for the production of Kalashnikov assault rifles in the Indian city of Korva," Shugaev said.
According to him, we are talking about the supply to the Ministry of Defense of India of more than 600 thousand AK203 submachine guns produced in the republic.
"Thus, the needs of the Indian Armed Forces will be provided almost completely. But the most important thing here is that with the help of Russian partners, the country receives competence in the production of weapons, which is a really important moment for the national industry," the head of the Federal Customs Service added.
At the same time, he stressed that the AK203 assault rifle is in no way inferior to foreign competitors, and even surpasses them in many respects.
"This is one of our newest machines, it has been tested for a long time. The Indian partners very meticulously chose the model and eventually settled on the AK203. By the way, this model is not produced under license in any other country," Shugaev concluded.
Earlier on Monday, it was reported that India had signed a number of agreements, contracts and protocols with Russia on small arms and military cooperation.
On the same day, Indian Foreign Minister Subramanyam Jaishankar spoke about deepening ties with the Russian Far East. According to him, to analyze the expansion of bilateral trade along the sea route, India has ordered a feasibility study of the Eastern Sea Corridor, which will connect the Indian city of Chennai with the Russian port of Vladivostok, and it is already nearing completion.
On December 4, Russian Ambassador to India Nikolai Kudashev told Izvestia that it could be about contracts for the supply to India and the organization of licensed production of AK203 submachine guns and Igla-S portable anti-aircraft missile systems there.
AK203 from the two hundredth series of Kalashnikov assault rifles is a logical development of the previous generation of assault rifles, eliminating some of its main drawbacks, almost without fundamental changes in the design of the weapon. Initially, this series was developed by IZHMASH in the late 2000s, but due to work in other areas, the project was frozen. After the "Warrior" and "Body Kit" OCD, work on the AK-200 was resumed taking into account the developments received.
It is known that the "two hundredth series" was first presented to the public in 2017 with the names AK74M1, AK101M1 and further similarly, and in 2018 debuted under the current names.
The AK203, chambered for 7.62×39, is equipped with a folding adjustable butt, an ergonomic pistol grip and a translator of fire modes with a finger rest. Among other things, there are "picatinny bars" on the receiver plate and the forearm of the machine gun for attaching additional equipment and sights.
