India buys tens of thousands of machine guns from Israel totalling $188 million

By Boyko Nikolov On Mar 21, 2020

TEL AVIV, (BM) – The Indian Army has ordered 17,000 “Negev” machine guns from the company on a fast track after international competition. The volume of the transaction is estimated around $118 million, learned BulgarianMilitary.com citing Israel Defense.

Overall, the deal took about a year and a half in the process of rolling with a series of exams and competition with European, Southeast Asian and American manufacturers.

“We are very proud that the Indian Defense Ministry has chosen our Negev as the main tool for the ground forces and we will continue to provide the best products in the world as we have done so far,” says Sami Katsav, owner of SK Group, a Negev machine gun manufacturer.

The Negev was chosen for a fast track with full production in Israel. At IWI, they say the two-year supply contract, when the company made preparations in advance with inventory inventory and modernization of production lines.

Despite concerns about the effects of the coronavirus, IWI is currently working according to the Ministry of Health’s guidelines and according to company officials there is no fear of delays in delivering the order to India.

Alongside the deal in India, the company is also dealing with an increase in demand for light weapons in the US and maintaining a regular supply to the Ministry of Defense.

The Negev is a 5.56×45mm NATO light machine gun developed by the Israeli firearm manufacturer, Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) (formerly Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI)) of Ramat HaSharon.

In 2012, IWI introduced the Negev NG-7 7.62×51mm NATO general-purpose machine gun and is used by the Israel Defense Forces (mainly in the infantry, combat engineer and special forces units). The NG stands for Next Generation.

The IWI Negev is a gas-operated selective fire light machine gun that uses propellant gases from the barrel to cycle a short-stroke gas piston operating system under the barrel and a rotary bolt locking mechanism.

The bolt itself features 4 radial locking lugs that engage the barrel extension and its rotation is controlled by a pin on the bolt body, which rides inside a camming guide machined into the bolt carrier.

The bolt contains a spring-powered casing extractor unit, while a lever ejector is housed inside the receiver (it is rotated by the recoiling bolt carrier).

In 1997, it was officially adopted by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

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Editorial team