Indian snipers to replace AK-57 Dragunov with US and Italian rifles.

The subject has popped up a few times since April 2018: the Indian army will at last get 5,719 sniper rifles (instead of 6,500 initially planned) from U.S. and Italian manufacturers to replace its ageing Soviet-era AK-57 Dragunov SVD rifles procured in the 1990s, The Financial Express has reported, echoed by Swarajiya.

Indian snipers will have their ageing AK-57 Dragunov replaced with Messers Beretta .338 Lapua Magmum Scorpio TGT of Italy and .50 M95 MS Barrett from the US (Picture source: Dragunov.net)

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, on Army day, said that the northern command will soon be equipped with new sniper rifles from this month. “On January 20th the new snipers will come for the Northern Command.” The Indian Army is getting sniper rifles from different vendors including Messers Beretta .338 Lapua Magmum Scorpio TGT of Italy and .50 Calibre Sniper Rifle M95 MS Barrett from the US. They are coming under the Buy Global category. The ammunition for these will be initially procured from abroad; subsequently it will be manufactured in India.

The Ministry of Defence, in a deal worth $150 million, had invited responses from global manufacturers last December to its request for proposals (RFP) for 5,719 number of 8.6 mm sniper rifles and 10.3 million rounds of ammunition for the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force.

The Indian army purchased Russian AK-57 Dragunov sniper rifle using the 7.62x54-MMR cartridge in early 1990s. However, the rifles (800 meters range) were not equipped with modern magnification and sight systems, nor a bipod. Five million rounds of .338 Lapua Magnum ammunition will be license-manufactured by India’s state owned Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and private sector manufacturers via transfer of technology.