India all set to manufacture the latest Kalashnikov rifle - the AK 100

With the 61st anniversary of the famed Kalashnikov AK-47 series around the corner, the Russian manufacturer of the world’s best-known assault rifle announced that the latest AK-100 series will be manufactured in India. The Russian arms company, Izhmash, will shortly issue a licence to an Indian private arms manufacturer with whom negotiations are at an advanced stage. Company spokesperson Alexander Xavarzin said assembling of the AK-103 will begin in a year’s time and full-scale manufacturing would start once the technology transfer takes place. The company hopes to sell the gun to various police and paramilitary forces in the country as well as the army. It will not be exported.

The popularity of the assault rifle can be gauged from the fact that originals account for only 8-12% of the total world sales of the Kalashnikov series – the rest are all Kalashnikov clones being manufactured in several countries, according to the Izhmash spokesperson. Unlike the AK-47 rifle which has a wooden base, the new generation AK-100 series is much lighter and has a body made of plastic. Xavarzin said the plastic component makes it an all-weather rifle, well suited to Indian conditions where soldiers have to trek at high altitudes for a number of days at a stretch.