The Ministry of Defence’s decision to procure an additional 73,000 SIG 716 rifles from US-based ammunition and pistol manufacturer SIG SAUER led to strong reaction from an Indian defence firm making a pitch for a “local contender” on X, even as Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu assured him that “his time” would come.
With the procurement, the Indian Army will have 145,000 SIG rifles in service, according to the company. Ron Cohen, President and CEO of SIG SAUER, said, “We are proud to be a partner in the modernization effort of the Indian Army, and prouder still that the SIG 716 rifle achieves the Ministry of Defence’s modernisation goals with the second largest army in the world.”
The Ministry of Defence had first awarded SIG SAUER a contract for SIG 716 in 2019 for 72,400 rifles.
The company said the successful “fielding and overwhelming” acceptance by soldiers led to this follow-on award for additional rifles. “Throughout this time, we have strengthened and further solidified our partnership with the Indian Ministry of Defence and are honoured to earn their continued trust in equipping their frontline infantrymen,” it added.
The SIG 716 is an American-made automatic assault rifle with an enhanced AR platform chambered in 7.62 NATO featuring a 16-inch barrel, M-LOIC handguard, and a 6-position telescoping stock.
Vivek Krishnan, Entrepreneur, CEO of SSS Defence, a new age Defence company, Fund Manager and Blogger on global economics & finance, posted on X: “I wish the govt had not acquired more of these. A private solicitation and insistence on Indian design and content would’ve easily thrown up a contender or many in fact. Testing the same against the in service system would’ve been rather easy…Now that it’s done, what can we do right. Most others would disband. Not us @sssdefence . We made a decision a long while ago to be the most fearless dog in this business. We shall still have a weapon for each caliber and the user to us is still the man in uniform. We will be global…”
