Stumpp Schuele & Somappa Defence (SSS Defence) is an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

company that deals in

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

small arms sectors. It is a subsidiary of Stumpp Schuele & Somappa Springs. Its current focus area is

small arms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes c ...

, ammunition and accessories related to small arms.

History

In 2016, Stumpp Schuele & Somappa Springs, the biggest Indian manufacturer of springs, started deliberating on ways to diversify its business. This led to the creation of SSS Defence. This foray into the business of small arms and ammunition was primarily targeted onto the foreign markets located in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, apart from those in India. It became the first private Indian firm to have developed

sniper rifle A sniper rifle is a high-precision, long-range rifle. Requirements include accuracy, reliability, mobility, concealment and optics for anti-personnel, anti-materiel and surveillance uses of the military sniper. The modern sniper rifle is a por ...

s when it’s Viper and Saber rifles were released. In October 2021, the firm received an order to upgrade some of Indian army's AK-47 rifles to special operations standard. This was the first time a private Indian company received a firearms order,

Products and facilities

Products

Sniper rifles

SSS Defence has developed two sniper rifles and plans to offer them for trials to Indian special forces, being the Viper and the Saber. SSS Defence says that these rifles have been designed to be compatible with the body structures of Indian soldiers. * Viper is a

sub-MOA A minute of arc, arcminute (arcmin), arc minute, or minute arc, denoted by the symbol , is a unit of angular measurement equal to of one degree. Since one degree is of a turn (or complete rotation), one minute of arc is of a turn. The na ...

chambered for 7.62×51mm or

.308 The .308 Winchester is a smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge widely used for hunting, target shooting, police, military, and personal protection applications globally. It is similar but not identical to the 7.62×51mm NATO ...

cartridges. It has a proven range of more than . * Saber is a

chambered for

.338 Lapua Magnum The .338 Lapua Magnum (8.6×70 mm or 8.58×70 mm) is a rimless, bottlenecked, centerfire rifle cartridge. It was developed during the 1980s as a high-powered, long-range cartridge for military snipers. It was used in the War in Afghanistan and ...

. Its length and height can be adjusted at its

butt stock A gunstock or often simply stock, the back portion of which is also known as a shoulder stock, a buttstock or simply a butt, is a part of a long gun that provides structural support, to which the barrel, action, and firing mechanism are attached. ...

. It has a range of around . The

picatinny rail The Picatinny rail ( or ), or Pic rail for short, also known as a MIL-STD-1913 rail, 1913 rail or STANAG 2324 rail (cancelled), is a military standard rail interface system that provides a mounting platform for firearm accessories. It was o ...

system on the rifle has a MIL-STD-1913 rail at a total of 4 positions. It has a weight of around 7 kilograms. When fully equipped with accessories, the Sabre weighs around 9 kilograms. The rifle has an ambidextrous

magazine release A magazine is an ammunition storage and feeding device for a repeating firearm, either integral within the gun (internal/fixed magazine) or externally attached (detachable magazine). The magazine functions by holding several cartridges with ...

. It can be equipped with three different types of

barrels A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, u ...

with lengths of 24, 26, and 27 inches respectively, its RH Twist being 1:11.25". The receiver system of the rifle is made up of

aluminium alloy An aluminium alloy (or aluminum alloy; see spelling differences) is an alloy in which aluminium (Al) is the predominant metal. The typical alloying elements are copper, magnesium, manganese, silicon, tin, nickel and zinc. There are two principal ...

and the surface of the receiver is coated with cerakote and

black oxide Black oxide or blackening is a conversion coating for ferrous materials, stainless steel, copper and copper based alloys, zinc, powdered metals, and silver solder. It is used to add mild corrosion resistance, for appearance, and to minimize light ...

Assault rifles

The company has also developed the P-72 family of rifles, with design philosophy similar to the ACR,

FN Scar The FN SCAR (Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle) is a family of gas-operated short-stroke gas piston automatic rifles developed by Belgian manufacturer FN Herstal (FN) in 2004. It is constructed with modularity for the United States ...

, and

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

CZ Bren 2 The CZ 805 BREN is a gas-operated modular assault rifle designed and manufactured by Česká zbrojovka Uherský Brod. The modular design enables users to change the calibre of the weapon to 5.56×45mm NATO or 7.62×39mm intermediate cartridges by ...

Family. * P-72 Rapid Engagement Combat Rifle (RECR) was designed for general

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...

and

special operations Special operations (S.O.) are military activities conducted, according to NATO, by "specially designated, organized, selected, trained, and equipped forces using unconventional techniques and modes of employment". Special operations may include ...

environments. It is chambered for 7.62x39mm or 7.62x51mm. * P-72 Recon

Carbine A carbine ( or ) is a long gun that has a barrel shortened from its original length. Most modern carbines are rifles that are compact versions of a longer rifle or are rifles chambered for less powerful cartridges. The smaller size and lighter ...

is a short, gas piston-operated weapon chambered for 7.62x39mm or 5.56x45mm cartridges. * P-72 Designated Marksman Rifle (DMR) comes in both 7.62×51mm and 7.62×39mm. This provides a range of around .

Facilities

SSS Defence is projected to become the second Indian company to operate a

manufacturing facility by the end of 2020. This facility will eventually be capable of producing 80,000 arms per year, starting with an initial 15,000 per year. By 2021, it also plans to operationalise an ammunition manufacturing in

Anantapur Anantapur, officially Anantapuramu, is a city in Anantapur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is the mandal headquarters of Anantapuru mandal and also the divisional headquarters of Anantapur revenue division. The city is loca ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. The firm has established a joint venture with

Companhia Brasileira de Cartuchos {{Infobox company , name = CBC - Companhia Brasileira de Cartuchos , logo = , type = Private , genre = , fate = , predecessor = , successor = , foundation = ...

for this purpose. This facility will produce ammunition of calibres such as the

12.7mm This is a list of firearm cartridge (weaponry), cartridges which have bullets in the to caliber range. *''Length'' refers to the cartridge casing (ammunition), case length. *''OAL'' refers to the overall length of the cartridge. *''Bullet'' ref ...

, 9mm, 7.62×51mm, 7.62×39mm, .338 Lapua Magnum.

References

{{Reflist Firearm manufacturers of India Manufacturing companies based in Bangalore 2017 establishments in Karnataka Indian companies established in 2017 Manufacturing companies established in 2017