Submachine gun made by Hyderabad company set to be inducted by Army | Hyderabad News

HYDERABAD: A city-based new small arms manufacturing entrant has hit the bull’s eye with its debut weapon – a 9×19 mm calibre submachine gun ‘ASMI‘ – making it the first indigenously designed, developed and manufactured weapon to be inducted into the Army.

Lokesh Machines Ltd, a CNC machines maker, has bagged an order for 550 ASMI submachine guns (SMGs) worth Rs 4.26 crore from the Northern Command of the Army.
The Army is not the only taker for ASMI. It has already delivered pilot lots of 10 guns each to NSG, which is testing it, and to Assam Rifles, which has cleared the gun for further induction. It has also bagged a pilot order for four guns from the Border Security Force (BSF). The Army order has to be fulfilled by Sept 28.
Its biggest advantage is its suitability for local ammunition as well as imported ones of NATO standard.
ASMI beat competition from renowned Israel, German fireams manufacturers
The firm, which got the basic design from Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE), Pune, and the Army, developed it further and manufactured it at its 12,000 units per annum factory at Toopran on city outskirts.
ASMI, short for Asmita (pride), beat competition from internationally renowned ‘Uzi’ of Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) and German fireams manufacturer Heckler & Koch’s M, company director M Srinivas told TOI.
“ASMI was pitted against global competition in terms of accuracy and reliability and outperformed them. Designing, developing and manufacturing a weapon in less than three years is a tall feat even by global standards for someone with no background in weapons manufacturing,” he said.
While it took about six months to develop the gun, the licencing processes for manufacturing took longer.
Equipped with a single unibody receiver machined from aerospace grade aluminium, the ASMI weighs under 2.4 kg, making it 10-15% lighter than international competitors.
It’s also lighter on the pocket as it is nearly 30% cheaper at under Rs 1 lakh when compared to imported ones costing over Rs 1 lakh.
“It is also reliable and rugged. It’s a highly accurate weapon as proven in trials by Army,” Srinivas said.
The company director added that the gun underwent extensive tests like drop, weather and mud as well as a reliability test where it fired 2,400 rounds without a single class-1 stoppage.
“It fires at the rate of 800 rounds per minute and has a magazine capacity of 32 rounds,” Srinivas said.