Sweden Looking For Indian Partners To Manufacture Carl Gustaf M4 Weapon System

Swedish defence major Saab is currently looking out for Indian partners to co-develop and co-produce its next-generation Carl-Gustaf M4 in India for the Army.

“We had very good and positive feedback from the Indian Army because of reduction in weight and the ammunition loaded. We tried to generate interest for the weapon. They are producing the old ones and they need to update the old ones,” Christer Gordon, Vice-President, FFV Ordnance AB, Saab, told The Hindu BusinessLine.

India had signed the first contract with Saab for Carl-Gustaf M2 weapons system in 1976, including technology transfer of Carl-Gustaf weapon and ammunition to Ordnance Factory Board (OFB). In 2005, Saab had inked another licensing contract for M3 with India.

“Since 1976, we have supported OFB to indigenise the product. We are now planning to follow the same route for Carl-Gustaf M4, which was launched in the market in late 2014. ‘Make in India’ is very important for us. India is already producing the M2s, M3s so you can produce the MP-4s also. The Army has given a positive feedback about it,” Gordon said.

According to Gordon, the latest M4 model has improved ergonomics and is much lighter compared with M2 and M3. It is made of titanium instead of steel, which obviously makes the product costlier.

Also, the new variant can communicate with ammunition, and the ammunition can be programmed from an advanced site. This enables it to give feedback to the site. It is also capable of ballistic calculation. Gordon said the company is hopeful of the Defence Ministry placing orders soon for the product, which can be used under all weather conditions and in any terrain.