The Indian Army has taken delivery of the first 6,000 of 16,749 Negev NG-7 light machine guns (LMGs) ordered in March 2020 from Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) for $ 120.7 million. The Acquisition Wing of Indian Ministry of Defence has signed the capital acquisition contract with Israel Weapons Industries for procurement of 16,479 LMGs with the approval of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. These guns are being procured under the Fast Track Procedure (FTP). The FTP is to ensure expeditious procurement for urgent operational requirements of the regular and special forces. The 7.62-51 mm light machine guns, which had arrived in India in late January, are completing their final round of acceptance trials and will be issued imminently to frontline IA troops deployed along India’s restive borders with China and Pakistan. Delivery of the remaining 10,000-odd LMGs is slated to be completed by October.
The IWI Negev (also known as the Negev NG-5) 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). Negev NG-7 – is a general-purpose machine gun is chambered for the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge. It has a barrel length of 508 mm (20 inch) and two operation modes; semi-automatic for accurate and fast controlled fire, and fully automatic for maximum firepower. It is fed by a 100- or 125-round assault drum magazine containing disintegrating M13 NATO standard ammunition belts or NATO standard ammunition belts and has two gas regulator settings as the possibly for box magazine feeding was omitted.
