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Defence and Strategic News
Russians see red on copycat Indian assault rifles
URL of this article: http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/printer_1294.shtml
Feb 6, 2004, 09:16
NEW DELHI: Russian manufacturers of the world-famed Kalashnikov are upset with an assault rifle that India has made for its forces and is hawking at an international arms fair, officials said here Friday.
"Bulgaria has our permission to manufacture AK-47s for export (but) I don't see any such permission being given to India to manufacture the rifle.
"We don't give such permission," said Andrei Vishnyakov of the Russian Izhmash company, the original Kalashnikov manufacturers.
Vishnyakov said the company has taken up the issue with OFB, the main sidearms supplier to Indian armed forces, and argued that the timber-butt assault rifle displayed at the Board's pavilion was a poor match of the Russian product.
"The cocking mechanism is different, the lever has been changed and the barrel is chrome-plated but the basic design of any gun in the world works on similar principles,"[/color] Ali told AFP.
OFB joint general manager M.K. Garg was equally dismissive.
"In any case we have not formally launched our assault rifle and the Russian statements are not correct and finally the prototype is different to that which the Russians are selling."
Russia is technology-starved India's largest arms suppliers, accounting for more than 70 percent of the defence needs of its long-time strategic partner and both sides say just an issue of purported patent infringement cannot come in the way of the cosy ties.
"We are historic partners. We have great ties and we want to arm India with the best systems to defend itself against terrorism but are open only to legal cooperation with the Indian government," said Vishnyakov.
More than 50 armies have adopted the Kalashnikov and 20 countries have built variants, while the half-century-old technology has also been reproduced to varying standards for illegal arms bazaars across the globe.
"It is illegal to copy our design," Vishnyakov said.
Fair officials said the unsavoury dispute surfaced when Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov, the father of the rifle that bears his name, visited the OFB pavilion and to his dismay found the Indian assault rifle on prominent display.
Defence and Strategic News
Russians see red on copycat Indian assault rifles
URL of this article: http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/printer_1294.shtml
Feb 6, 2004, 09:16
NEW DELHI: Russian manufacturers of the world-famed Kalashnikov are upset with an assault rifle that India has made for its forces and is hawking at an international arms fair, officials said here Friday.
But Russians attending an international defence exhibition being held here disagree and say India has infringed the Kalashnikov patent.
"Bulgaria has our permission to manufacture AK-47s for export (but) I don't see any such permission being given to India to manufacture the rifle.
"We don't give such permission," said Andrei Vishnyakov of the Russian Izhmash company, the original Kalashnikov manufacturers.
Vishnyakov said the company has taken up the issue with OFB, the main sidearms supplier to Indian armed forces, and argued that the timber-butt assault rifle displayed at the Board's pavilion was a poor match of the Russian product.
OFB gun designer Mohammad Ali argued the Russians were barking up the wrong tree.
"The cocking mechanism is different, the lever has been changed and the barrel is chrome-plated but the basic design of any gun in the world works on similar principles,"[/color] Ali told AFP.
OFB joint general manager M.K. Garg was equally dismissive.
he said.
"In any case we have not formally launched our assault rifle and the Russian statements are not correct and finally the prototype is different to that which the Russians are selling."
Russia is technology-starved India's largest arms suppliers, accounting for more than 70 percent of the defence needs of its long-time strategic partner and both sides say just an issue of purported patent infringement cannot come in the way of the cosy ties.
"We are historic partners. We have great ties and we want to arm India with the best systems to defend itself against terrorism but are open only to legal cooperation with the Indian government," said Vishnyakov.
More than 50 armies have adopted the Kalashnikov and 20 countries have built variants, while the half-century-old technology has also been reproduced to varying standards for illegal arms bazaars across the globe.
"It is illegal to copy our design," Vishnyakov said.
Fair officials said the unsavoury dispute surfaced when Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov, the father of the rifle that bears his name, visited the OFB pavilion and to his dismay found the Indian assault rifle on prominent display.
