The DRDO has launched an indigenous assault rifle named ‘Ugram’, intended to meet the operational requirements of armed forces, paramilitary, and state police entities.
Indigenous Assault Rifle ‘Ugram’
The rifle, with a calibre of 7.62 x 51 mm, has been designed, developed, and manufactured in collaboration with a private industry partner. The first operational prototype of the rifle was unveiled at the DRDO’s Armament and Combat Engineering Systems in Pune. It has an effective range of 500 m and weighs less than four kilograms.
The Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), it was said “The ARDE developed 7.62x51mm Assault rifle UGRAM through private industry was launched by Dr S V Gade, Director General ARDE, other senior scientists of the lab and industrial representatives.” The rifle has a 20-round magazine and fires in both single and full auto mode. The configuration of the rifle is comparable to the latest AK and AR type rifles, and it has a rivet-free design, making it robust.
The unveiling of this specific type of assault rifle of 7.62 x 51 mm calibre comes at a time when the Defence Acquisition Council had in December given a nod for procurement of 70,000 US-made SIG Sauer assault rifle of the same calibre for the Indian armed forces for over Rs 800 crore in addition to over 72,000 procured early in 2020. DRDO’s Ugram will have to go through several internal tests, acceptance trials and user trials before it can be considered for induction.
G Ram Chaitanya Reddy, Director of the Dvipa Armour India, said, “There is a major shortfall of assault rifles in India. The AK-203 project has not taken off because of the Russia Ukraine war and PLR is supplying weapons to the Israel Weapon Industries because of the Israel-Hamas conflict. After the development of the prototype and their trials, we will go for more tests for which we will give 15 more units to the ARDE. Subsequently, the process of further clearances will begin.
