Indian National Small Arms System
From The D Archives
INSAS (an abbreviation of Indian National Small Arms System) is a family of infantry arms consisting of an assault rifle, a light machine gun and a carbine. It is manufactured by the Indian State Ordnance Factory Board at its Ishapore factory. The Insas Assault Rifle is now the standard infantry weapon of the Indian Armed Forces.
Problems
The INSAS rifle saw combat with Indian soldiers during the Kargil War with Pakistan. According to the Times of India, the rifle had some reliability problems in the very cold climate in which that conflict took place. Due to the cold weather, the rifle would jam occasionally and the polymer magazines would crack in the cold. There were also cases wherein the rifle would fire in full auto, while in three-round burst fire mode. According to the manufacturers, these problems have now been fixed.
Variants
- INSAS assault rifle 5.56 mm, Regular version issued to Indian Army(Foldable and Fixed Butt variants)
- Excalibur 5.56 mm carbine (Select fire between automatic and semi- automatic modes, Under user trial)
- MINSAS 5.56 mm personal carbine (short barrel commando version, 5.56 x 30 mm ammunition, for close quarter battle use)
- INSAS LMG 5.56 mm INSAS (Foldable and Fixed Butt variants)
- KALANTAK 5.56 mm micro assault rifle (Under user trial)
