Since India gained its independence from the British Empire in 1947, its primary goal as a nation was to seek self-determination and production to keep foreign dependencies to a minimum. Thus, India is now producing fully indigenous AK-203s for its armed forces.
Last August, it was reported that India had begun to produce the Russian-designed Kalashnikov AK-203 under license, with manufacturing set to be fully localized by the end of 2025. Initially, New Delhi was only completing the final production of the assault rifles in India, with just five percent of the components made domestically.
The goal has been for India to produce fully indigenous AK-203s, the latest in the famed Kalashnikov series of select-fire rifles that began with the AK-47 in the early stages of the Cold War. The AK-203 has been adopted by all branches of the Indian Armed Forces, with 95 percent of the initial orders from the Indian Army and the remainder going to the Air Force and Navy.
Indian Regional Police Also to Adopt the AK-203
With domestic production ramping up, the joint Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL) will soon have additional customers in the sub-continent. The Kerala Police have announced they will seek to adopt the assault rifle as part of their modernization efforts.
According to a report from the Indian news outlet The Print, if the force is approved, it “would become the first non-military agency to field the upgraded Kalashnikov.”
The state police force is looking to procure around 250 assault rifles, significantly fewer than the hundreds of thousands the branches of the Indian military are set to receive just this year.
The Kerala Police are already equipped with the Soviet-made AK-47, as well as the domestically produced INSAS assault rifle and Ghatak multi-caliber individual weapons system. The INSAS has received significant criticism for its reliability and performance issues, with operators noting frequent jamming.
Though some issues, including magazines cracking in the cold, aren’t a significant problem in the southern state of Kerala, jamming has been a concern for the police force. The Ghatak has been seen as an improved product, but its costs have been stated as an issue.
By contrast, the AK-203 has been praised for its ease of maintenance and reliability.
The AK-203: THE Rifle of India From Here On
The AK-203 is the Indian variant of the AK-200 series assault rifle. It features a 415 mm barrel and has a fixed side-folding anatomical Magpul buttstock, but it is otherwise similar in design to the version employed by the Russian military.
It is equipped with a reinforced cover and fitted with a Picatinny rail on the forend for mounting a variety of optics. A MIL-STD-1912 standard mount is outfitted to the lower side of the forend, allowing for the installation of bipods, foregrips, tactical lights, or lasers.
In addition, a 40 mm GP-34 under-barrel grenade launcher can be mounted to the AK-203.
The assault rifle weighs 3.8 kg empty. It is chambered for the 7.62x39mm cartridge, which was developed for the SKS during World War II and employed on the famed AK-47/AKM. The AK-203 has a rate of fire of 700 rounds per minute and is accurate to a range of 800 meters. A thirty-round detachable box magazine or a fifty-round quad-column magazine feeds it.
IRRPL has been contracted to produce more than 600,000 for the Indian military, and further contracts could come from other Indian state police and security forces.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
Image: Wikimedia Commons/ Rikujojieitai Boueisho/ Japan Ground Self-Defense Force.
