Government to go for Direct FMS route for 44,000 CQB Carbines

Government to go for Direct FMS route for 44,000 CQB Carbines for faster process.

After repeated failure to purchase 44,000 close quarter battle (CQB) carbines, a crucial weapon for the Indian Army for its counter-terrorism operations in the Kashmir Valley, the Manohar Parrikar-led Ministry of Defence (MoD) will buy them directly instead of opting for the global tendering process.

For the last two decades, the Army has been battling to replace its British-era carbines, the sub-machine gun or the sten gun, which were retired long ago. But each time the selection process get stuck on allegations of corruption and favouritism.

“With repeated failure to procure it through the global tendering process, the ministry has to go for direct government-to-government sale for buying the weapon. It will speed up the acquisition process and will rule out allegations of corruption,” a top ministry official said.

The MoD proposed an agreement under foreign military sales with a country for buying 10,000 such carbines directly. The remaining lot can be manufactured here with a production license to meet Army’s requirement.Recently, former MoS for Defence defence Rao Inderjit Singh wrote to Parrikar seeking a CBI probe over the selection criteria of the final vendor after a mammoth six-year exercise by the Army and the ministry. Singh alleged the Army tweaked the technical specifications to favour a particular vendor.