The Jammu & Kashmir police force is going to become the first police force in India, to possess modern American weaponry.

Key Facts

• Government has decided to equip the police force in Jammu & Kashmir with Sig Sauer MPX 9mm American pistols and American Sig Sauer rifles, in order to modernise it.
• Jammu and Kashmir Police recently invited global bids for arms procurement on the GeM (Government e-Market) portal.
• Police force will get 500 ‘Sig Sauer 716 rifles’ and 100 ‘Sig Sauer MPX 9mm pistols’ for special operations groups (SOGs).

Significance of the import

Import of the modern pistols will make Jammu Kashmir police more aggressive against terrorism. The new weaponry will also help the police to face any tough situation such room intervention of any building, where terrorists hide as well as during long-range attacks on terrorists.

Sig Sauer-716 assault rifle

The 7.62x51mm cartridges of Sig Sauer-716 assault rifle is more powerful as compared to 5.56x45mm intermediate cartridges of Indian Small Arms System (INSAS) rifles used by the police currently. The rifle can fire 650-850 bullets per minutes, without a magazine. It can prove to be an effective weapon in counter-insurgency operations because of its range of 500 meters. The weapon is gas powered.

SIG MPX 9mm pistol

The 2.94 kg SIG MPX 9mm pistol can fire 850 bullets in a minute, without the magazine.  It is a gas-powered pistol.