In service 2017-18 (Expected) | Place of origin India No. built 15 | |
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Designer Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) Manufacturer Ordnance Factories Board (OFB) | ||
Excalibur is an assault rifle which is derived from the INSAS rifle, which is the standard rifle of the Indian Army. The rifle has many improvements over the INSAS rifle and was slated to replace the INSAS as the Indian Army's standard assault rifle, however the Indian Army put the replacement out to tender in September 2016. The Excalibur will be manufactured by the Ordnance Factories Board in Ordnance Factory Tiruchirappalli, Small Arms Factory, Kanpur and Ichapore Arsenal.
Contents
History
The Indian Army used the INSAS rifle from late 1990s and the rifle saw action during the Kargil War. The INSAS was said to be plagued with many reliability issues like cracking of the polymer magazines because of cold weather, oil being sprayed in the user's eyes and the rifle going in automatic mode when set on 3-round burst (the INSAS doesn't have an automatic mode) to name a few.
In November 2011, the Indian Army sent a request for proposal (RFP) to 34 vendors for 65,678 multi-calibre rifles for about ₹2,500 crore (US$400 million). The tender also included a license to manufacture about 100,000 more rifles in India, with a total expenditure of the phasing out estimated at ₹5,500 crore (US$900 million). Similar tenders for a carbine and a LMG were also issued. However, the Army sent a letter to the manufacturers on 15 June 2015, to notify them that the tender has been retracted.
After cancelling the tender, the army decided to pursue the new Excalibur rifle developed by the ARDE as a replacement for the older INSAS rifles.
On 3 July 2016, the Indian media reported that, Indian Army had rejected the Excalibur for its standard issue assault rifle as it did not match the requirements standard of the army.
In September 2016 the Indian Army announced that it was launching a tender for 185,000 7.62x51mm-caliber assault rifles. The Indian Army in October 2016 has announced that Excalibur rifles will be adopted as an interim assault rifle until a suitable replacement is found.
Trials
The Army tested the Excalibur in 2014-15. Some of the trials included: