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| Country |
India |
| Type |
Assault rifle |
| Manufacturer |
ARDE |
| Introduction |
1997 |
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INSAS (an abbreviation of Indian National Small Arms System) is a family of infantry arms consisting of an assault rifle, a light machine gun and a carbine. It is manufactured by the Indian State Ordnance Factory Board at its Ishapore factory. The INSAS Assault Rifle is now the standard infantry weapon of the Indian Armed Forces.
The INSAS system was originally planned to have three component weapons: a standard rifle, a carbine, and a squad automatic rifle (LMG), all chambered for 5.56x45mm NATO ammunition. In 1997 the rifle and LMG were ready for mass production, and in 1998 the first units were observed armed with INSAS rifles for the Republic Day Parade . The mass introduction of the INSAS rifle was initially delayed by the lack of the domestically made 5.56 mm ammunition and India accordingly bought significant stocks of ammunition from the Israeli company, IMI. At least 300,000 INSAS rifles are in service with the Indian army; some of these have seen action in Indo-Pakistani conflicts.
The INSAS rifle was sold at a highly discounted rate to the government of Nepal, and many more given as military aid to combat the Maoist insurgency in that country. Around 100,000 weapons were exported to Nepal.
The INSAS rifle saw combat with Indian soldiers during the 1999 Kargil conflict with Pakistan. According to the Times of India, the rifle had some reliability problems in the very cold climate in which that conflict took place. Due to the cold weather, the rifle would jam occasionally and the polymer magazines would crack in the cold. There were also cases wherein the rifle would fire in full auto, while in three-round burst fire mode. According to the manufacturers, these problems have now been fixed.
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