NEW DELHI, May 20. /TASS/. Indian Army has received 27,000 Kalashnikov AK-203 assault rifles, produced at the Russian-Indian joint venture IRRPL (Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited) in the Indian central state of Uttar Pradesh, the Hindu newspaper reported citing official sources.
"Everything is on rack after initial delays, and 27,000 rifles have been given to the Army. Another 8,000 will be handed over in the next two weeks," the publication wrote citing one of the sources.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the creation of a joint Indian-Russian venture to produce Kalashnikov assault rifles in the country in March 2019.
Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited for the production of AK-203 was established at a plant near the city of Korva in the Amethi district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. About 670,000 AK-203 assault rifles should be supplied to the Indian armed forces, of which 600,000 will be produced at the IRRPL plant. That means that India will become the first foreign country to produce the 200th series of Kalashnikov assault rifles.
As Alan Lushnikov, president of the Kalashnikov concern, said earlier, the experience of producing assault rifles at the Russian-Indian joint venture in the city of Korva is successful.