Small Arms & Tactical Equipment

India Set to Buy Thousands of ‘Night Sights’ for Infantry Assault Rifles in Bid to Reduce Casualties

India has lost 82 security personnel in terror attacks and cross-border firing since it conducted the Balakot air strike on 26 February, 2019. The Indian Army is now seeking night vision devices for its infantry to minimise similar losses in the future.

The Indian Army is seeking to buy 22,000 long-range night sights for infantry assault rifles.

The purchase has been authorised to minimise the casualties in cross-border fire or during counter-terror operations in Kashmir. The sights will be manufactured in India and used by troops deployed on the frontline.


“Thermal Imaging Night Sights would enable troops to undertake long range accurate engagements in dark and all weather conditions thereby enhancing the night fighting capabilities,” the Indian Defence Ministry said.
The search was launched after the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, approved the design, development and manufacturing of 'Thermal Imaging Night Sights' for assault rifles in November 2019.

The army said the uncooled thermal imagine sight desired by the Indian Army should be lightweight and able to accurately engage targets in the hours of darkness.

The Indian Army has already initiated the process to eliminate the night blindness of tanks and light machine guns, which have been used by infantry deployed along the Pakistan border.

Tombo Imaging
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Having a range of around 1,000-meters is crucial in the mountainous Himalayan border regions where visual range remains important.

The army has been seeking long range night vision devices because it recently lost a large number of soldiers on the border with Pakistan following the air strike conducted by the Indian Air Force inside Pakistan in February 2019.

India Hunts for Thousands of ‘Night Sight’ for Assault Rifles to Minimise Casualties in Cross Fire
 
The gun looks good. You can clearly see the separate upper and lower receivers. Having clearly defined receivers is a great help for quick field stripping, cleaning, changing parts etc. Also a mag well is also a very good addition, allows for quicker reloading especially in low light conditions. That notch on the upper just ahead of the "Made in India" marking is probably the sliding safety lever. There is space left for a rear stand to complement the bipod. The sight is probably a thermal sight. I recall reading about the US military using those extensively on their snipers in Afghanistan. Also notice the M-LOK rails on the 3 and 9 o'clock positions are larger than those on the 45 deg offset positions, that is for aiding cooling of the barrel and to reduce weight of the gun. Clearly a lot of though has gone into the design of the gun.
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We also have a newer bipod. They look heavier, more robust and lower set than the previous version. Looking at it, I'd say they can be folded both forward a backward. They will also have canting and swivelling abilities. Unfortunately I don't yet see a spirit level indicator yet, an absolute necessity especially for long range sniping in mountainous terrain. Not sure what to feel about the rounded ends of the bipod though, how will that help ?
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The suppressor looks really cool. I wonder how much of a sound suppression you can achieve with a 0.338 Lapua Magnum. Given the size of the bullet its going to be loud. But suppressors drastically reduce muzzle flash too, so there is tactical utility for suppressors.

My only complaints is that cheek rest design and the general "boxiness" of the whole thing. The cheek rest feels like a step down, I liked the old ones better. And the general design is just unnecessarily busy. I understand the need to reduce weight, but this is just a little too much. Also the SSS Defence logo(the 4 backslash thing on the mag well) is just ugly, there I said it.

The markings on the gun say "2020-009", probably the 9th model produced this year. Still plenty of time left to solve the little problems. We didn't get to see the other side of the gun with the bolt and everything, but this is what it might look like. This is the 7.62 mm version design :
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Alright time for an oped. My first impressions(FWIW) of the two new SSS Defence guns :

Let's start with the DMR first. The barrel looks 18 inches long. Standard size for a DMR. The magazine is made for a 7.62x39R bullet rather than a 7.62x51N. That means the gun will fire the standard AK bullet which is great for inventory and logistics. But the AK bullet is a poor choice for a DMR round, the maximum effective range of the round is pretty limited(300-400m) compared to the best of DMRs out there(800-1000m). The gun looks pretty well built. The stock is adjustable for length, cheek rest height and is also foldable. The sight appears to be a Low power variable optic(LPVO), an excellent choice for DMRs. There are back up iron sights too. The charging handle is most possibly a reciprocating type. The barrel is floating obviously and SSS Defence previously stated that the firing mechanism will be a short stroke piston type. The trigger is possibly a two stage trigger. The pistol grip is straight out of the AR-15 family.
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Overall not a bad effort at all, especially for a first attempt. There are some things that's not very clear right now. For example firing modes. Most DMRs have a single shot mode and safe, no full automatic mode because a full auto burst can be degrading to the gun's accuracy. DMRs need more accuracy than rate of fire. But there are some DMRs that do have full automatic mode for soldiers to use as a last ditch measure. We don't know what firing modes this one has. Also the Army is buying 7.62x51mm rifles from Sig, NSG already use those guns as DMRs. It is possible that we might see wide adoption of the 7.62N is the future. Can this gun fire those rounds ? The modifications needed will be very simple given both the rounds are of the same diameter but have sightly different length.
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The carbine and the DMR are from the same family no doubts there. The carbine features a 12 inch long barrel. It will have a full auto mode. The trigger will probably be a single stage. Everything else is pretty identical to the DMR. This gun has the potential to replace all the AKs used by our military today. With news that the Army and NSG trailing their snipers I do hope this gun gets some orders.
 
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Gautam said:
Alright time for an oped. My first impressions(FWIW) of the two new SSS Defence guns :

Let's start with the DMR first. The barrel looks 18 inches long. Standard size for a DMR. The magazine is made for a 7.62x39R bullet rather than a 7.62x51N. That means the gun will fire the standard AK bullet which is great for inventory and logistics. But the AK bullet is a poor choice for a DMR round, the maximum effective range of the round is pretty limited(300-400m) compared to the best of DMRs out there(800-1000m). The gun looks pretty well built. The stock is adjustable for length, cheek rest height and is also foldable. The sight appears to be a Low power variable optic(LPVO), an excellent choice for DMRs. There are back up iron sights too. The charging handle is most possibly a reciprocating type. The barrel is floating obviously and SSS Defence previously stated that the firing mechanism will be a short stroke piston type. The trigger is possibly a two stage trigger. The pistol grip is straight out of the AR-15 family.
View attachment 13886
Overall not a bad effort at all, especially for a first attempt. There are some things that's not very clear right now. For example firing modes. Most DMRs have a single shot mode and safe, no full automatic mode because a full auto burst can be degrading to the gun's accuracy. DMRs need more accuracy than rate of fire. But there are some DMRs that do have full automatic mode for soldiers to use as a last ditch measure. We don't know what firing modes this one has. Also the Army is buying 7.62x51mm rifles from Sig, NSG already use those guns as DMRs. It is possible that we might see wide adoption of the 7.62N is the future. Can this gun fire those rounds ? The modifications needed will be very simple given both the rounds are of the same diameter but have sightly different length.
View attachment 13887
The carbine and the DMR are from the same family no doubts there. The carbine features a 12 inch long barrel. It will have a full auto mode. The trigger will probably be a single stage. Everything else is pretty identical to the DMR. This gun has the potential to replace all the AKs used by our military today. With news that the Army and NSG trailing their snipers I do hope this gun gets some orders.
Click to expand...

The media reports about SSS Defence
Were saying 7.62 X 51 and 338 Lapua Guns

You should ask them clearly about your observations
 
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