While the Agni ballistic missile may be hogging the headlines as a triumph of Indian indigenous technology and military power, another development by its creator, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), holds tremendous promise as the weapon of choice for India’s security forces besides having excellent export potential.

      At the Defexpo 2010 land and naval defence exhibition in Delhi, DRDO will showcase the sub-machine carbine(SMC), a lightweight 5.56mm calibre weapon which allows soldiers to fight close-range battles with terrorist or similar opponents.

      The SMC was developed by the Armaments Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), a DRDO laboratory based in Pune.

      The SMC is a lightweight compact automatic gun with a small barrel. It fires rapidly and is suitable for close quarter combats. At present, the Indian Army, paramilitary forces, commandos and the police use a Russian origin 9 mm calibre carbine, which is outdated by today’s standards.

      Competitors to DRDO’s SMC include the Tavor light assault rifle of Israel and several others made by western European manufacturers.

      The SMC programme is part of the Indian Small Arms System (INSAS) family, which was started in 1982 to build an indigenous small arms weapons family for India. By 1987, the ARDE had designed the rifle, the Light Machine Gun (LMG) and the carbine ― all part of the INSAS family. The carbine was later found to inappropriate for the kind of missions Indian special forces were made to undertake.

      However, with inputs from security agencies having experience in close-quarter fire-fights, the need for a small, lightweight carbine which reduced the reaction time of a soldier to threat from hostile fire, was felt. The standard 5.6mm round was modified to fit the new carbine.

      Several rounds of tests later, the SMC is said to be on its way to final approval by the Indian army after which it is likely to be mass produced by the Ordnance Factories.

      The requirement of the SMC is said to be in thousands.