In response to the Indian Army’s recent tender seeking 5,000 9x19mm machine pistols, nine Indian vendors submitted their technical and commercial bids by the 9 January deadline.
Worth an estimated $5 million, the submachine guns are being acquired as an ‘emergency procurement’ via Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020’s fast-track procedure. They are intended for the army’s tank crews and Ghatak or commando platoons in infantry battalions.
Almost all indigenous manufacturers who responded to the Infantry Directorate’s 12 December tender had existing collaborative arrangements with overseas OEMs.
However, according to the 75-page tender, the weapons need to incorporate an indigenous content of