The world famous TAR-21 Tavor assault rifles; Galil sniper rifles and Negev light machine guns manufactured by Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) will soon be made in India under a new joint venture.

The JV between IWI and Punj Lloyd Ltd, a firm based in London with ambitions of becoming a supplier of choice of the Indian Armed Forces, is named PunjLloyd Raksha Systems (PRS).

Like Us on Facebook

It will see the manufacture of a wide range of IWI small arms at a new plant in central India built with the help of IWI. The production of small arms will begin this year.

"We are making the whole range of IWI weapon systems at the facility here including the Tavor-21 and Galil assault rifles along with the Negev Light Machine Guns, Galil sniper rifles and the X-95 close quarter carbine rifles here," said Ashok Wadhawan, President of Manufacturing Business (Defense and Aerospace) at Punj Lloyd.

"We would be offering all the types of weapons required by the (Indian) armed forces."

Among the famous Israeli weapons to be made by PRS will be IWI TAR-21 Tavor bullpup assault rifles firing the 5.56×45mm NATO rounds at a rate of 950 rounds per minute, and the MTAR-21 (X95) or the IWI X95 Micro-Tavor, a derivative of the TAR-21 selected as the future standard infantry weapon of the Israel Defense Forces.

By using a relatively simple conversion kit, MTAR-21 can be converted from a 5.56 mm assault rifle to a 9 mm submachine gun loaded with 20, 25, and 32-round magazines.

Besides Tavor assault rifles, PRS will also manufacture the semi-automatic Negev assault light machine gun (5.56X45mm and 7.62X51mm versions) and Galil sniper rifle (7.62x51mm).

PRS will first manufacture gun components for export to Israel, where nearly 80 percent of the components of the guns will be made in India. In the second phase, complete weapons will be made at PRS for used by the Indian Armed Forces.

TagsTAR-21 Tavor assault rifle, Galil sniper rifle, Israel Weapon Industries, Punj Lloyd Ltd, PunjLlyod Raksha Systems, Ashok Wadhawan