Kolkata: In what came as a major boost to the Centre’s “Make in India” initiative in the defence sector, the Rifle Factory Ishapore (RFI), the oldest fire-arms manufacturer in the country located in North 24 Parganas of West Bengal, has delivered 100 pieces of 7.62x51-mm sniper rifles to the Assam Rifles (AR), known for its counter insurgency supremacy in the Northeast. The indegenously built sniper rifle’s inclusion is going to add teeth to the armoury of the AR which is under the operational control of the Indian Army’s Eastern Command. The weapon, weighing 6.7 kgs, can be mounted with any telescopic sight. It can hit the target upto 800 metres with an accuracy of 1 MOA which is at par with any international sniper. On Friday, RFI general manager D.K. Mahapatra handed over 100 numbers of 7.62x51-mm sniper rifles to Brigadier H.S. Sandhu, the AR 22 Sector Commander. Each sniper rifle cost around Rs 1.20 lakhs, according to sources. This is also the second and largest consignment so far for the 232-year-old RFI, the only manufacturer of sniper rifles in India, which launched the product in August, 2017.
