Indian Army seeks Corner Shot weapons

NEW DELHI - Seeking to equip itself for close-quarter urban warfare, the Indian Army has sought information about Corner Shot weapons that enable the user to observe and engage a target from around a corner, especially in situations like the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, an official said Wednesday.

The Ministry of Defence is desirous of procuring a weapon system for shooting around the corner without exposing the firer or with minimum exposure of the firer. It should engage targets effectively beyond 200 metres, says a request for information (RFI) issued to different companies.

The weapons are likely to be used by the army’s Special Forces.

The RFI, however, does not specify the number of units to be purchased. The supplier also needs to specify its willingness to allow manufacturing of the systems in India under licensed production.

Corner Shot Holdings, a US-Israeli company, unveiled the highly technological system in December 2003 and it is already being used by some of the world’s elite special forces. It includes a small, high-resolution camera and a monitor that can observe and view a target from various angles.

The detachable video camera enables the user to scan an area prior to pinpointing a target and broadcast the footage in real time to the operating team behind or to a monitor at the command post in the rear, an Indian Army official said.

“The weapon could be extremely useful in situations like the Mumbai terror attack, when armed terrorists played hide and seek with security forces in posh hotels. The terrorists were in an advantageous position and required the security personnel to expose themselves dangerously to nail them down,” the official added.

The army’s request for information follows the elite National Security Guard (NSG) purchasing the system at a cost of Rs.758,000 per piece. The weapon allows the shooter to track terrorists around a corner with the help of a video camera mounted on the gun, which can swivel 63 degrees on either side.

The NSG is now planning to purchase more systems so that they can be mounted on standard Swiss SIG 551 or soon-to-be upgraded 553 assault rifles and AK-47 rifles used by NSG commandos. This system is used by Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams in the US and other Western countries to counter terror attacks.