It was with a great deal of satisfaction that I read that the Indian Army had chosen to adopt a modified version of the SIG716 TREAD rifle, chambered in 7.62x51mm for frontline troops. I had long bemoaned the lack of modularity on our frontline weapon, the INSAS rifle.
I am a passionate follower of military developments, with deep interest in military history, and for the last 3-4 years, have been enthusiastically following the history of firearms and contemporary developments.
Modern day firearms have enjoyed a veritable explosion in tactical R&D and ergonomics since the so called “Global War on Terror” began in 2001, after the tragic attacks on the World Trade Centre.
Very quickly we saw the emergence of Picatinny rails that acted as a base framework for attachment of all kinds of accessories on the American AR15 (M4/M16) family – from optical sights of all kinds to flashlights, IR lasers, foregrips etc etc and this was soon adapted by other Western gun makers, be it the Belgian FN, or German H&K or Italian Beretta. Yet sadly, the Russian AK took its time, and here in India, OFB seemed blithely ignorant.
The P-rail provided a very potent force multiplier to a soldier, be it an average infantryman or a Special Forces elite operator – making individual soldiers far more potent.
In India, we started seeing the same in recent years with modified AKMs with optics being used in the Valley with Rashtriya Rifles, as well as SF units using Israeli Tavors and US M4A1s with sights of varying kinds – from red dot and holographic close quarter combat sights to magnified optics.
With the induction of SIG716s and soon AK203s, an opportunity has presented itself to me to suggest a few accessories in use in Western armies with similar weapons, that I believe wholeheartedly will serve the Indian rifleman extremely well.
The US Marine Corps new Rifle Squad.
In 2010, the USMC removed the M249 belt fed Squad Automatic Weapon from general service, in favour of the M27 IAR.
The M27 is a variant of the Heckler and Koch built HK416 rifle, which fires a 5.56x45mm NATO round from a short stroke gas piston rifle in the same shape as the AR15 (M16 family).
The USMC further customized this rifle with:
1. a ACOG sight SU-258/PVQ Squad Day Optic – a 3.5x times magnified scope with a backup miniature red dot sight on top.
2. A heavier profile barrel to sustain continuous fire rates
3. A PEQ-15 Infra Red laser system
4. A bipod
5. A Knights Armament suppressor.
There were concerns of loss of suppressive firepower of the M249, but in field testing by the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines unit in Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrated the following advantages:
1. Far more precise, accurate firepower – as good as a Designated Marksmen Rifle Mk12
2. A much easy to carry weapon system compared to the nearly 11 kg heavy M249.
3. Ability to easily integrate with other members of an infantry section.
In 2017, the USMC decided to give every rifleman of an Infantry Squad the M27 IAR, replacing the M16A4, the M4A1 rifles, the M249 SAW and the Mk12 DMR.
These rifles would enable every rifleman to reach out to 600m, provide sustained fire rates and gives the section leader greater flexibility, as earlier he had to position the 2 machine gunners and 2 marksmen carefully. Now, every soldier has the potential to provide accurate fire at longer distances.
The British Army L129A1 DMR
In 2009, as a direct result of experience gained from operating in Afghanistan, the British MoD decided to order the Lewis Machine Tools produced LM308 rifle, designated as L129A1 Marksman rifle. The rifle is extremely similar to the SIG716i, as procured by the Indian Army, sharing the same AR10 lineage, direct impingement gas system, free floated barrel, quad rails, 7.62x51 NATO calibre and so forth.
This rifle was equipped with:
1. the barrel is a 16" fully chrome-lined, cryogenically treated, polygonal rifled 1:10 right-hand twist chrome-moly machine gun grade steel.(same as SIG 716i)
2. TA648-308 6×48 ACOG sights with backup RMR red dot.
3. Bipods.
The L129A1 demonstrates sub 1 MOA accuracy and a lethality out to 800 metres and beyond, and since 2011, has also been adopted by the New Zealand army as a DMR.
Coming to the Indian Army’s two new infantry guns and what I feel would be welcome accessories to fully exploit their capabilities.
IA’s SIG716:
The SIG 716i provides phenomenal accuracy rivaling DMRs to a range of 1km, when used with match grade sniper ammunition, used with normal ball FMJ rounds, it still manages to impress with sub 1 Minute of Angle groupings.
Pictures publicly available of Indian troops with the 716i have thus far shown the rifles either with iron sights only or BEL made holographic sights, thermal sights and the occasional high magnification sniper scope.
While holographic sights remain an excellent choice for close quarter combat and are far superior to basic iron sights thanks to the ease of target acquisition and good field of view, they do not allow a soldier to clearly see targets at long ranges and make visual identification of potential targets difficult, as well as putting penalties on accuracy, and follow on shots ineffective. Given the SIG 716’s effective range, good accuracy and lethality, it would be perhaps better to accessorise the infantry with better sights and other accessories – some of which I’ll list below.
Option 1: ACOG (Advanced Combat Optics)
ACOGs are fixed low magnification scopes that typically need no batteries and enable soldiers to reach out to significantly longer ranges than red dot or holographic sights. They have been in use for more than 2 decades in western armies, and as a result of this, have become very rugged, reliable and effective.
Some examples of suitable ACOG optics for both the SIG 716 and the AK 203 are:
1. Trijicon TA31H
Introduced in early 2000s, the TA31H features a 4x32 sight that features clear sight picture, bullet drop compensating reticle, a 4x zoom, wide field of view and thanks to fiber optic/tritium combo does not need batteries, even for night fighting conditions.
2. ELCAN Spectre
The ELCAN Spectre comes in a variety of flavours from fixed 4x sights to a prismatic sight that can switch from 1x to 4x at the flip of a lever, and like Trijicon, has been in use for many years across both regular units and SOF units.
In summary, ACOG sights have the following pros and cons:
PROS:
a. Good magnification level, extending effective firing range, and improving accuracy.
b. Better field of view than precision scopes which suffer from tunnel vision effect
c. Battle proven over many years of service across different armies
d. Wide variety in terms of choice
CONS:
a. Unsuitable for close range, urban combat – where red dot sights are optimal
Significantly, both the M27IAR and the L29A1 use ACOGs, though both guns also use secondary red dot RMR sights on top of the ACOG to give soldiers a degree of flexibility and redundancy – however this makes the entire system even more heavy, and bulky.
Option 2: Red Dot/Holographic Sight + Magnifier
Given the IA’s significant stocks of BEL made Holographic sights, and their effectiveness in CQB, it would perhaps be best to retain them and add flippable magnifiers on to the P-rail of the rifles, providing a fixed magnification (usually at 3x – 4x) when needed, and retaining the normal red dot.
These come in many flavours, made by well known optical brands – from Aimpoint, SIG Sauer, EOTech, Vortex, etc and all provide 3x magnification at a low weight and cost – bringing flexibility to the red dot/holographic sight system.
GRIPPOD V2
And lastly, instead of going for bipods on the SIG716/AK203 and adding bulk to the gun or replacing a foregrip, the IA would find it better to use a combination foregrip-bipod system, that provides benefits of both systems.