Paratroopers and commandos, which form special forces of the country, will get adjunct weaponry in the form of 716 General Purpose Machine Guns from the United States. The guns are being purchased for the Special Forces (SF) units at an expense of about Rs 400 crore through American Foreign Military Sales (FMS).
India has bought a large number of weapon systems from the US in the past, including a large consignment of light howitzers (deployed in mountain terrains) using FMS routes. This is direct government-to-government transfer of weaponry avoiding tenders and long processes.
The purchase is expected to be cleared at the next meeting of the Defence Procurement Board, headed by defence secretary Ajay Kumar and, if required, the meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) head by defence minister Rajnath Singh.
These guns can be very useful in Jammu and Kashmir as per the current situation. They can be efficiently used by the special forces in the valley to fight off terror attacks.
