Why INSAS failed?

Introduction

INSAS is  the acronym for INdian Small Arms System.INSAS is standard infantry weapon of Indian Army.  INSAS was designed in 1980s . The most of the design was inspired from AKM . But also had some features of other rifles. Before INSAS India needed a standard assault rifle of 5.56mm caliber. 

If we study the INSAS in detail , we will see the design was above average and efficient. It can fire a three round burst mode or semi-automatic mode.
It has many good points in its design but copied from Galil, AK , SLR , Steyr AUG.

 But know the question arises where do we went wrong ??  

 

             Kargil War

INSAS first came into picture in 1999 Kargil War.The  rifle was recently inducted in 1998. The war was fight in Himalayas at a very cold terrain. There the rifle has a average performance. But many faults were observed during war.

Following problems were mainly observed during Kargil War-

• There was problem of oil being sprayed into the eye of the soldiers.
• There were complaints  of rifle going into automatic mode, when it was set on the three round burst mode.
• Complaints of rifle jamming and over heating was a major issue.
• The magazine would break in cold weather condition.

Problem

Further improved versions of INSAS came in progressing years. But we need to remember that one of our neighbor is far ahead of us when it comes to military technology. The above statement does not signifies on nations current military strength, but we need to remember that we largely depended on exporting military assets.

Exporting technology is a very expensive process. And during any type of war it can take the most valuable asset of any country i.e. Time.

We all know that how Americans refuse to provide satellite data during Kargil war. We do not know when the external politics will change. We cannot rely on external organizations to control our security. 

India had improved very linearly in defense technologies but relatively slow when it comes to indigenous military technology. While others had found better resource and infrastructure. From past twenty years we are not able to provide a lethal infantry rifle to our backbone of security. 

There had been endless number of issues regarding INSAS from past years.  But due to shallow Indian politicians and corrupted bureaucracy had led to loss and destruction of many families.

It does not matter how strong are your missiles or how deadly is your artillery. When it comes to protecting and seizing land , then you need men on foot to do the dirty work.

And you cannot even provide these men a above average and reliable rifle.

  

 The DRDO had made Excalibur rifle for the replacement of INSAS but Excalibur does not fulfill the requirement of army. The army had rejected almost two variants of improved version of INSAS. The army is constant and not ready to compromise to its standards. Which is totally logical. The anti-terror troops in Kashmir had refused to use INSAS and they are provided with better rifles. But this is not a solution . The counter terrorist operations cost very expensive due to lack of indigenous resources. Purchasing technology is a temporary solution, we need a reboot to our system. Our soldiers lack of basic necessities and equipment. 

Let us take an instance for example a soldier  fighting in Kashmir having INSAS and a terrorist having fully-automatic AK-47. He had a better accuracy and fire power weapon and soldier have a semi-automatic, less accurate weapon. The odds of winning reduces due to a relatively faulty  weapon.But this would not happen. Our army is using many alternatives and lethal weapon of world for anti-terrorist operations. But  as I told earlier we cannot rely on temporary solution. We need a better indigenous weapon for soldiers. The Indian corrupted system had damaged many futures and lives. The one of the greatest democracy and leading economy cannot even fulfill the basic needs of a soldier. Who is fighting the external odds as well as internal threads.

INSAS is a outdated design and our soldiers deserves a better and lethal infantry rifle. Because at the end of the day -"The strongest wall is made of brave men not stones".