New Delhi: Breaking an 8-year-old Chinese monopoly in Nepal, an Indian private company has supplied 2 million of the 5.56x45mm rounds for the Nepalese army’s assault rifles under a government-to-government contract route, ThePrint has learnt.
Sources in the defence and security establishment said that Bengaluru-based SSS Defence won the contract on quality beating heavy bidding by the Chinese.
While the Nepalese Army used to import ammunition from India, they had stopped doing so after it replaced the Indian-made INSAS rifles with the Korean and American supplied M4s, M16s and other NATO rifles.
Following a deadly encounter with Maoists in 2005 in which 43 Nepalese soldiers were killed, its spokesman called the rifle substandard and claimed that the operation would have been more efficient had they got better weapons.
Indian and Nepalese Army share a long history and there are about 35,000 Nepali Gurkhas serving in the Indian Army while there are over 1.3 lakh lakh veterans back in the Himalayan Kingdom who continue to draw full pension from India for their military service.
Talking about the ammunition contract, sources said that the delivery is ongoing and will be completed by the beginning of next year.
The ammunition is being manufactured by the SSS Defence at its factory in Andhra Pradesh.
The company has a joint venture for production of ammunition in India with Brazilian firm CBC Defense, the world’s second largest producer of military ammunition.
CBC has been a supplier to the Indian armed forces and has a contract going on for small caliber supplies to the Indian Army as well.
Explaining the significance of the Nepealse contract, sources said that in the last eight years the Army there had not bought a single Indian weapon system or ammunition.
“The Nepalese Army had written to us asking for bids by our firms. Bids were also sought from the Chinese. The Nepalese Army undertook its own evaluation process and selected SSS Defence. The contract for the same was government to government,” a source said.
Sources said that the contract is yet another example of India’s growing defence industry and the export potential for Indian systems.
