1. The Excalibur is doing exceptional in trials as we speak.
2. The stupid part is, even if IA goes for a foreign rifle, the ammo will be built by...... OFB Kanpur/Ishapore combo.
The morons who ruined the INSAS for the first 10 years.
ARDE developed it. Just like they made the Excalibur. The mass production is given to OFB. Where they screwed up.
Also the jamming and all, was rectified. For the last 10 years or so, this things works out of the box. More or so.
3. This needs to be retired. Not because the system is bad. Yes it is not great. But good enough. This system is too old now. No evolutionary mods. No rails etc. Well, I don't know if Excalibur is considered as a evolutionary design here. I would. They sure did not market it so.
4. If ARDE decides to outsource the Excalibur design to Bharat Forge, Godrej or L&T... You have a international star here. Perhaps the new DPP will make it happen. But if it is OFB, good bye.
5. The ammo type was a IA requirement. It was light and so they can be carried more. But for the engagement distances, they wont tumble. Hence the change to the 7xx. This is NOT a flaw. It is designed to by such.