American weapons and parachutes for Indian special forces.

India has decided to buy US-made assault rifles, ammunition, parachutes and several other specialised equipments for its special forces. Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is going to chair an important meeting where the proposal to buy this equipment will be discussed, the Indian News Agency reports.

Indian special forces of the Parachute Regiment armed with Israeli IWI Gtar-21 rifles (Picture source: Wikipedia)

The Defense Minister will hold discussions over several types of equipment including assault rifles, ammunition and free fall parachutes for the Special Forces units of the Parachute Regiment of the Army. “If the proposal goes through, the equipment would be acquired from the United States in a government-to-government deal under the Foreign Military Sales route,” the ministry said.

The Indian Army already has American M4A1 carbines, which are used extensively by security forces in counter-terrorism operations. The government is also planning to equip the Special Forces with the same Belgian FN Herstal rifles that are currently used by the Special Protection Group (SPG) guarding the Prime Minister. This unit is armed with FN Herstal F2000 and P90 rifles, IWI, Gtar-21 (Tavor) rifles, HK MP5 submachine guns, FN Herstal Five-seven and Glock 17 or Glock 19 pistols (uniformed officers and special agents).

In February, the Defense Ministry had inked a deal to procure 72,400 7.6mm Sig Sauer assault rifles under fast-track procedures for the infantry. The Sig Sauer assault rifles are already being used by armed forces in the US and several European countries. The Defense Ministry has asked the US firm to deliver the rifles within a year. The Indian Army will receive a bulk – 66,400 – of the assault rifles, while the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy will get 4,000 and 2,000 rifles respectively.

The Special Protection Group is armed namely with HK MP5 submachine guns, IWI Gtar-21 (Tavor) and FN Herstal P90 rifles (Picture source: India Today)