A big moment for small arms
An in-depth report on the industry in India that has evolved from amateur designs to export items
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 "Archis Mohan")
 "Martin Hutchinson")
 "Army")
Indian army personnel holding an Insas rifle during a joint exercise with the Royal Thai Army in Chachoengsao Province, Thailand, in 2018. photo: Indian Army/ X
During the Sino-Indian War of 1962, Indian troops faced China’s People’s Liberation Army armed with no more than bolt-action Lee-Enfield .303s from the British era. Indeed, the rifle was obsolete even by World War II standards.
The Chinese, armed with modern semi-automatic Type 56 rifles, could fire twice as many rounds, reflecting a stark disparity that eventually led to a devastating and tragic outcome for India, which lost the war and suffered massive casualties.
For decades, this was the reality of Indian infantrymen: They carried weapons they could not fully trust.
When the rifles failed, the soldiers paid the price. Making amends, India sought to modernise itself by adopting the Ishapore 2A1. As it happened, this 7.62mm Lee-Enfield variant was the last bolt-action rifle ever adopted by any army. By the 1980s, the world had moved to lighter 5.56 millimetre (mm) weapons. India chose to design its own.
The Indian Small Arms System (Insas), which was developed in the 1980s, entered service in 1998, just in time for the Kargil War against Pakistan in 1999. The Insas was India’s first indigenous assault rifle to be used in combat and incorporated many design elements from the AK-47 (Avtomat Kalashnikova).
The Insas suffered from multiple, well-documented failures. Its polymer magazines cracked in cold weather. The rifle jammed in dusty conditions and extreme cold. The fire selector would switch modes accidentally.
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An audit by the comptroller and auditor general later revealed that 13-17 per cent of Insas rifles had to be sent back for repairs of metallurgical defects. Soldiers in Kargil reported the weapon leaking oil and going into automatic mode when set for three-round bursts. In the freezing heights of Kargil, the rifle simply could not be trusted.
“We went to the Insas, and it was a problematic weapon right from the start. I recall, particularly in the insurgency areas, people used to complain that the terrorists have much better AKs,” Lieutenant General Deependra Singh Hooda (retired), former general officer and commander-in-chief of the Indian Army’s Northern Command, told Blueprint.
“A soldier must have confidence in his weapon. And with the Insas, unfortunately, that confidence was missing. If that doubt is there in the soldier’s mind, then it’s a problem; the criticality is for a weapon system which will not fail at a crucial time. The main thing that’s required is reliability,” Hooda added.
A file photo of an engineer at SSS Defence in Bengaluru working on the computer-aided design of a rifle frame. Photo: SSS DefenceThe consequences were visible on the ground: “In fact, we used to issue captured AK weapons to troops in the field.”
The problem was not merely the weapon itself but also the larger ecosystem responsible for developing and procuring infantry weapons. “The problem was that the Indian defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs) and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) were not able to produce a good weapon system. Secondly, the general staff’s qualitative requirements and the way the army formulated them were somewhat problematic,” Hooda recalled.
He noted how some requirements became unrealistic, as the army once wanted a weapon with two different calibres using interchangeable barrels. “We did those trials in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Nobody had a weapon like this where you could interchange barrels of two different calibres. Obviously, those trials did not succeed,” Hooda said.
“Therefore, I think we then went to AK production, which has now started getting introduced,” said Hooda.
“For the carbines, we still haven’t found a solution.”
The army’s search for reliable weapons eventually led to imports. “Therefore, we imported the Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft (German for “Swiss Industrial Company”) SIG rifle, but that also was not in sufficient quantities that you could equip the whole army. We need better weapon systems, particularly in insurgency areas and on the Line of Control,” said Hooda. Even this Swiss rifle was procured without its thermal and night-vision devices, reducing troops’ ability to engage in night operations.
In 2024, the Indian Army placed a fresh order for 73,000 SIG 716 assault rifles chambered in 7.62×51 mm North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) from United States manufacturer SIG Sauer, following an earlier procurement of 72,400 rifles in 2019. This decision was met with criticism from domestic manufacturers, but the army maintained that in 2018, no Indian company made such rifles, and imports were necessary for frontline troops.
This need is so acute that the army repeatedly had to turn to foreign companies like SIG for modern battle rifles. This is partly due to the Indian military’s need for modern, powerful 7.62mm calibre weapons, a technology domestic manufacturers have historically struggled to produce.
Yet imports alone do not solve the problem; domestic manufacturers need to step in and develop solutions, particularly in terms of carbines and sniper rifles. That debate between imports, licensed production and indigenous development continues.
An M-72 assault rifle made by SSS Defence using 5.56 x 45mm standard Nato round. Photo: SSS Defence
The new guard
The Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), an administrative giant that used to manufacture small arms for decades without any competition, has now been abolished and replaced by seven DPSUs.
As part of its Make in India mission, the government has worked to dismantle the old regime. The biggest step in the field of defence was the 2021 corporatisation of OFB, an integrated conglomerate of 41 factories, into seven public sector companies.
Among those seven, Munitions India Limited is responsible for manufacturing a wide range of small-arms ammunition, including 5.56×45 mm Insas rounds; 7.62×39 mm ammunition for AK-series rifles, 7.62×51 mm Nato ammunition for SIG 716 and other rifles; 9×19 mm pistol and sub-machine gun ammunition; 12.7 mm heavy machine gun rounds and sniper ammunition such as .338 Lapua Magnum, along with various other military-grade cartridges.
Top five sources of import
This was coupled with the creation of positive indigenisation lists — a list that identifies defence equipment that can no longer be imported after specified deadlines and must be procured from Indian manufacturers — and the establishment of defence industrial corridors in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Tamil Nadu. Together, these measures have created stronger incentives for both domestic and foreign companies to partner with the Indian industry and expand indigenous defence production.
Private companies like SSS Defence, Kalyani Strategic Systems Limited, and Adani Defence have entered the fray, designing and manufacturing export-grade small arms entirely in India. Indian-made sniper rifles are now being exported to friendly nations and are meeting export standards.
Sixty kilometres from Bengaluru International Airport and into the industrial belt surrounding the electronic city sits a manufacturing complex operated by SSS Defence. Blueprint visited the facility to get a glimpse into how modern small arms are made.
The factory floor is filled with rows of machines, working continuously on different rifle components throughout the day, 24x7, in three different shifts. These parts are made and tested at different stages of manufacturing and are aligned at workstations across the factory floor.
There are many multi-axis machining centres, barrel-making machines, assembly stations and quality control laboratories occupying different sections. Beneath the surface lies an underground ballistic test range where newly manufactured assault rifles, snipers and pistols undergo live-fire testing for accuracy and system trials before being cleared.
Together, the design, manufacturing and testing infrastructure reflects the ambitions to move India beyond licensed production and towards indigenous weapon design.
Vivek Krishnan, chief executive officer of SSS Defence, said the company’s journey began in 2017 with a conscious decision to avoid becoming a mere assembler of imported kits. "On weapons, we decided to do it on our own, which was a very risky play then.”
Krishnan explained that the company believed genuine capability would come only through original design and experimentation, making it one of the very few original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, in the sector. He said India’s challenge stems from confusing technology transfer with technological mastery.
“Foreign companies don’t give you a transfer of technology. They give you a blueprint,” said Krishnan. “The secret sauce is never in the blueprint. It’s the difference between know-how and know-why.”
Weapon development is ultimately a process of accumulating knowledge through trial and error rather than assembling imported kits. “We decided not to do screwdriver work,” he said, referring to licensed assembly models. Krishnan argued that companies relying solely on such arrangements face long-term limitations.
Written By
 "Archis Mohan")
 "Martin Hutchinson")
First Published: Jul 21 2026 | 12:48 PM IST
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