Nod to 10 lakh ‘Make in India’ grenades

The Asian Age.

India, All India

These new hand grenades will replace the existing inventory.

The ministry has also taken steps to encourage medium and small shipyards by making only them eligible for small value projects. (Photo: Pixabay)

New Delhi: The defence ministry has approved acquisition of 10 lakh “Made in India” multi-mode hand grenades for the Indian Army, said sources.

These new hand grenades will replace the existing inventory.

The decision for buying new hand grenade comes when government has recently signed two contracts for modern rifles for the Army, including AK-203 assault rifle which will replace INSAS rifles.

According to reports, the Army has already provided advanced sniper rifles to its troops posted along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Kashmir Valley and Jammu region to retaliate ceasefire violation by Pakistan.

During the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) meeting on Wednesday projects worth rs 2,355 crore were approved, including multimode grenades and fire control systems for the Teg, Talwar and Saryu class of warships.

The defence ministry gave nod to fresh policy guidelines for selection of shipyards for major warship and submarine building projects of the Indian Navy and Coast Guard, said sources. The policy guidelines which were cleared by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman-led meeting will enable issuing of tenders for projects worth `25,000 crore in the coming year.

The ministry has also taken steps to encourage medium and small shipyards by making only them eligible for small value projects.

Meanwhile, new sniper rifles were recently provided to some of the units in the Kashmir valley and Jammu region on the LoC and they were used effectively against Pakistani positions, which have been attacking Indian posts and personnel, according to agency reports.

The troops have been provided two new advanced sniper rifles, including the Barrett M95. 50 BMG and Beretta Scorpio TGT “Victrix” .338 Lapua Magnum.

Around 30 of the two sniper rifles have been procured by the Northern Army Commander throu-gh his special financial powers to augment the firepower of the troops on the LoC where Pakistanis had been sniping at Indian troops regularly.

Before using sniper rifles, the Indian Army was using Dragunov rifles from Russia which had certain issues with ammunition.

The Army has also initiated a move to buy more than 6,500 sniper rifles for troops operating in the counter-insurgency operations under fast track procedures.

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