India developed its first indigenous 9 mm machine pistol, the Defence Ministry informed that the machine gun was co-developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Army. The Army’s infantry school in Mhow and the DRDO’s Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) in Pune have designed and developed the weapon, a press statement released by the DRDO said.
“The machine pistol fires the in-service 9mm ammunition and sports an upper receiver made from aircraft grade aluminium and lower receiver from carbon fibre. A 3 dimensional printing process has been used in designing and prototyping of various parts,” it said in a statement.
“The machine pistol is likely to have production cost under Rs 50,000 each and has potential for exports,” it said. Further the statement said: “Keeping the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Aatmnirbhar Bharat’ in view, this small step will pave way for self reliance and it is expected that the Services and Paramilitary Forces (PMFs) will induct this expeditiously.”
The ministry said the weapon has been developed in a record time of four months. The weapon has been named “Asmi” meaning ‘pride’, ‘Self-Respect’ and ‘Hard Work’. It said the weapon has huge potential in armed forces as personal weapon for various missions, including in counter insurgency and counter terrorism operations.
