After the defence ministry, on Tuesday, reordered 73,000 SIG Sauer assault rifles from US weapons manufacturer Sig Sauer, CEO of a small Indian defence firm, SSS Defence, Vivek Krishnan, questioned the move, wondering if the Union government is actually serious about its 'Make in India' undertaking, and came up with a challenge of sorts.
Bengaluru-based SSS Defence (Stumpp Schuele & Somappa Defence) is a weapon system manufacturing company, specialsed in the manufacturing of small arms, ammunition, and high-end optics for military and law enforcement.
As part of the initiative by the defence ministry to modernise its weapons, and impressed by the performance of the SIG Sauer assault rifles, the government had placed a fresh order. As many as 1,45,400 SIG716 rifles will be in service with the Indian security forces when the order is completed.
READ MORE: Defence ministry reorders 73,000 SIG Sauer assault rifles as part of modernisation efforts
Vivek Krishnan, in a long social media post, said ever since the second order was placed, he has been bombarded with questions about it.
"I wish the govt had not acquired more of these", he wrote, even as he admitted that he knew the order was coming.
"A private solicitation and insistence on Indian design and content would’ve easily thrown up a contender or many in fact," he pointed out.
"What about Make in India for defence," Krishnan asked, adding, "There are a handful of guys really doing good work in the small arms space. There’s commitment from them and all it’ll take is patience."
What about pride in Indian stuff, he sought to know. "We lost that pride a long while ago by building sub standard weapons in the govt controlled space. If anything, the private sector is regaining some of the pride," he pointed out.
Rubbishing excuses like “we’re not there on metallurgy” or “our designs are behind time” from "the buyer" he said, "I say put an indigenous weapon of ours against a global benchmark in each caliber and test out. Make the results open like real serious armies do."
Been bombarded with messages since y’day seeking “my” opinion on the follow on acquisition of SIG 716i by the Indian army. Well, we knew this was coming. So, just went about our work. But some plainspeak is well worth it.
— Vivek Krishnan (@Viv_Krishnan) August 28, 2024
1. I wish the govt had not acquired more of these. A…
