New Delhi: As part of its modernisation drive, Indian Army is likely to sign an MoU within a month to procure more than 750,000 elite AK-203 assault rifles, media reports said.

The Indo-Russian Rifles (IRRPL), an India-Russia joint venture (JV) at Korwa, Uttar Pradesh will manufacture the elite assault rifles.

Of the total order, 100,000 rifles will be manufactured in Russia. The JV based in Amethi will produce the remaining 650,000 units.

Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the rifle-manufacturing facility in Korwa. IRRPL is a JV between Ordnance Factories Board (OFB) on the Indian side, and Rosonboron Exports and Concern Kalashnikov on the Russian side.

The Indian Army’s OFB owns a 50.5 per cent stake in the JV and the remaining 49.5 per cent is held by Russian partners.

The JV was formed consequent to the inter-governmental agreement signed between the two countries in February last year.

After that, it secured all requisite licenses for production and export. Following the conclusion of the board meeting of the JV, an initial set of officers from the Army and OFB joined it to start its operations.

Later on, close coordination and regular interactions were held with Russian partners for smooth implementation of the project.

In July last year, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the operationalisation of the JV IRRPL to manufacture AK-203 assault rifles in UP.

Last month, the Indian Army reportedly received the first lot of Sig Sauer assault rifles to boost its counter-terrorism operations.