Kalashnikov Delivers New Batch of AK-203 Production Tooling to India

Kalashnikov Concern has announced the delivery of a second batch of tools and equipment which will be used to manufacture India’s AK-203. The Indian AK-203s are being procured under India’s Make in India scheme through a joint venture, Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL), which is a partnership between India’s Advanced Weapons & Equipment India Limited (AWEIL) and Munitions India Limited (MIL) and Russia’s Rostec subsidiaries Kalashnikov and Rosoboronexport.

India’s AK-203 @ TFB:

• Kalashnikov Completes Delivery of Tools to India for AK-203 Production
• First Batch of Made In India AK-203 Rifles For Indian Army Ready
• Rosoboronexport To Discuss AK-203 Production At India’s Defexpo 22
• Has India Sealed the Deal? 770,000 Kalashnikov AK-203s for Indian Armed Forces
• India’s AK-203 Program Delayed
• FIRST LOOK: India’s AK – Not Quite an AK-203
• India To Produce 750,000 AK-203s
• Making Sense of India’s Small Arms Procurement Nightmare

In January 2023, Russia’s Rosoboronexport announced that the first batch of India’s AK-203s had been completed. This was followed nine months later by the announcement of a delivery of 4,500 pieces of machinery and tooling.

Kalashnikov Concern has now confirmed the delivery of another 3,000 pieces of tooling for Indian production of the rifles. It also appears that some 2,000 AK-203s gauges have been delivered to aid in testing.

Here’s what Kalashnikov Concern had to say [machine translated]:

“In the first half of the year, Kalashnikov Concern JSC produced over 3,000 units of tools and technological equipment as part of the implementation of the contract for the organization of licensed production of the Kalashnikov AK203 assault rifle in India. The tool and weapons production divisions manufactured over a thousand types of product nomenclature on time and in full: cutting tools, dies, tooling and much more.

In addition, the company manufactured over 2,000 military calibers [gauges] for testing assault rifles in the troops. "We are actively developing partnerships with our colleagues from India," says Alan Lushnikov, President of Kalashnikov Concern JSC. "The tool was manufactured and shipped on time and in full - this is our priority task, which we are solving under the terms of the current contract." Let us recall that last year Kalashnikov shipped over 4,500 units of tools as part of the organization of licensed production of the AK203.”

Back in September 2023 Lushnikov had said:

“Since the signing of the agreement in December 2021, we have done a tremendous amount of work with all services of the enterprise. New technological documentation was developed, equipment was purchased and additional staff were recruited. To date, all products have been delivered to the warehouse for shipment to India.”