ICOMM partners UAE-based CARACAL to manufacture small arms

New Delhi, Feb 22 (KNN) ICOMM, a group company of Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL) signed a licensing agreement with UAE-based CARACAL on Tuesday to locally manufacture small arms for the Indian market.

Under this partnership, ICOMM will locally manufacture Caracal's complete line of small arms under the 'Make in India' initiative of the government. The production will take place at company’s manufacturing facility in Hyderabad.

The two companies signed the agreement at the ongoing IDEX 2023 in Abu Dhabi.

"ICOMM will manufacture the full range of Caracal small arms, including the versatile Caracal EF pistol, modern CMP 9 submachine gun, CAR 814, CAR 816 and CAR 817 tactical rifles, CAR 817 DMR tactical sniper rifle, CSR 50 anti-material sniper rifle, CSR 338 and CSR 308 bolt action sniper rifles and the CSA 338 semi-automatic sniper rifle," the company informed in a statement.

As per reports, the two sides had been in talks for a while and the signing of this agreement makes the UAE defence company eligible to do business as per Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2020.

Speaking about the partnership, Sumanth P, Chief of ICOMM, said, “India’s defence industry is on a strong path to develop its sovereign manufacturing capabilities. This agreement exemplifies the commitment shown by CARACAL to aid India’s ambitions towards making the defence sector self-sufficient.”

“As India continues to realise its sovereign defence ambitions, we look forward to partnering with ICOMM, whose capabilities in providing end-to-end solutions across multiple sectors, including engineering and defence, complements CARACAL’s portfolio of advanced small arms,” said Hamad Al Ameri, CEO of CARACA.

The tie-up comes at a time when the Indian Army’s quest for small arms acquisition remained unfulfilled.  (KNN Bureau)