While the Indian army has been looking for foreign assault rifles such as the Sig Sauer 716 and the AK-203 to meet its needs, paramilitary forces such as the CRPF and state police have been aggressively acquiring indigenously developed assault rifles such as the TAR or Trichy assault rifle, TriCa – the carbine version of the TAR, and the Ishapore Assault Rifle.
Trichy Assault Rifle & Ghatak have already been integrated into the CRPF’s service, and in February 2022, they became the first users of the 7.62X51mm Ishapore Assault Rifle. We recently reported that Delhi Police has placed a big order for 5000 carbines for Rs 85 crores with Joint Venture Protective Carbine (JVPC). NSG has also placed an order for 100 Trica carbines for December 2021.
In terms of TAR, OFT has provided around 10,000 rifles to Central Armed Police Forces as as the BSF, SSB, ITBP, and CISF. TAR has also been incorporated into the police force of numerous states as part of their modernisation programme. OFT has a monthly output rate of 2000 TAR. The Central Armed Police Forces’ faith in the assault rifle points to its success.
While OFT is preparing to execute a 100-unit order for the TriCa compact carbine, states dealing with Naxals were eager to arm their forces with the 7.72×39 mm weapon.
Out of the orders for 78,000 guns placed collectively by the Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, Sashastra Seema Bal, and police forces in States, OFT has delivered 30,000 Tiruchi Assault Rifle (TAR) and will supply 42,000 to 45,000 units during this fiscal.
Recent TAR and TriCa orders
According to an unclassified report recently provided by the Department of Defense, on February 12th, the CRPF placed a large order for 10,000 TAR costing 76.48 crore with Advance Weapons & Equipment India Limited (AWEIL). On the 31st of January 2022, AWEIL received another modest order from Kerela Police for 92 TriCa carbines costing 67.16 crore.
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