In a major boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Aatmnirbhar Bharat’, MEIL group company iComm on Tuesday became the first Indian private company to sign a Transfer of Technology agreement with UAE’s Caracal to manufacture firearms for the local market.
iCOMM will locally manufacture Caracal’s complete line of small arms for the Indian market, powering the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
Officials informed that among the arms to be manufactured are CARACAL EF pistols, modern CMP 9 submachine guns, CAR 814, CAR 816 and CAR 817 tactical rifles, CAR 817 DMR tactical sniper rifles, CSR 50 anti-material sniper rifles, CSR 338 and CSR 308 bolt action sniper rifles and the CSA 338 semi-automatic sniper rifle.
The signing took place at the ongoing IDEX 2023 in Abu Dhabi, UAE, one of the largest tri-service defence exhibitions in the world.
“India’s defence industry is on a strong path to developing its sovereign manufacturing capabilities,” said Sumanth P, Managing Director of iCOMM. “This agreement exemplifies the commitment shown by CARACAL to aid India’s ambitions towards making the defence sector self-sufficient,” he said.
“The Indian Government seriously took up the indigenisation of defence manufacturing, allowing the private sector to manufacture weapons, breaking the age-old view to ensure no disruptions in the supply chain. Our entry into small arms production is a proud moment for us,” he added.
CARACAL’s complete line of small arms will be produced in iCOMM’s world-class design, development and manufacturing centre in Hyderabad. iCOMM is one of the largest companies manufacturing missiles and sub-systems, communications and EW systems, radars, electro-optics, composites, loitering munitions, shelters, drone and counter-drone systems.