New Delhi: Adani Defence & Aerospace has signed a five-year agreement with Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL), the India-Russia joint venture that manufactures AK-203 assault rifles in the country, to supply indigenous 7.62x39mm small-calibre ammunition for the rifle, the company said in a statement on September 5, 2026.
The agreement brings together AK-203 rifle production by IRRPL and ammunition production by Adani Defence & Aerospace, creating an integrated supply chain within India, the note said.
Under the deal, Adani Defence & Aerospace will supply 7.62x39mm ammunition for the AK-203 for five years. The arrangement gives the programme an Indian source of ammunition and is meant to support continuity of supply through the contract period.
IRRPL was incorporated in 2019 under an India-Russia intergovernmental agreement to manufacture AK-203 rifles for the Indian armed forces. Its manufacturing facility is at Korwa in Amethi district, Uttar Pradesh. The joint venture’s Indian shareholders are Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Limited and Munitions India Limited, while Concern Kalashnikov and Rosoboronexport hold stakes on the Russian side.
The defence ministry has identified IRRPL as the joint venture set up for indigenous production of the AK-203. A contract for 6,01,427 AK-203 rifles was signed with IRRPL in December 2021, with the rifles to be produced at Korwa.
Adani Defence & Aerospace has also built small-calibre ammunition manufacturing capacity in India, including a facility in Kanpur.
The company said the agreement adds to domestic capability across the small-arms supply chain and supports the government's Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) push in defence manufacturing.
The ammunition deal comes weeks after IRRPL said it had built the first AK-203 rifle made entirely from Indian components and input materials, at its Korwa facility in Amethi. The company called the rifle, named “Sher”, an example of “100 percent Genuine Indigenisation”. The rifle has completed firing tests, including burst firing, and prototypes are being readied for Indian Army trials this month, IRRPL said.
Maj Gen S K Sharma, chief executive officer and managing director of IRRPL, said Indian components and input materials were used across the rifle’s entire production chain.
He said the company was working towards producing one Sher rifle every 100 seconds, and that the pace of indigenisation had helped bring forward the planned delivery of about six lakh rifles to the Indian Army by nearly a year.
