NEW DELHI: The Indian Army's plan to modernise its mechanised Arm by inducting a new-generation 'Future Tank' platform namely FRCV (Future Ready Combat Vehicle), in a phased manner, is on course.
The plan, other than towards Pakistan, also includes the deployment of armoured vehicles along the mountainous terrain along the Line of Actual Control with China.
The plan is to replace its over four-decade-old Russian-origin T-72 main battle tank with future-ready combat vehicles (FRCVs) by 2030. The sources in the defence establishment said that the Army is procuring a total of 1,770 FRCVs in three phases with 550-600 to be procured in each phase.
The sources said, "We expect that the developmental process would be completed in 4-5 years and it would take another 1.5-2 years for production to be rolled out. So by 2030, we will start inducting them in the armoured fleets," said the sources, adding that the last phase will be completed in the next 10-12 years.
As reported earlier by this Newspaper, the Request for Information (RFI) was issued in 2021.
Elaborating on FRCV, the Request For Information said, with the capability to act as a multiple weapon platforms along with an infusion of niche technology will cater for the future capability requirements and enhance the overall operational effectiveness index of the Indian Army (IA) by catering for emerging threats in varied terrain.
FRCV will offer multiple options for rapid operational employment enabling the Indian Army to execute operations across the entire continuum of conflict against diverse threats and equipment profiles of the adversaries.
The FRCV would be in-service for the next 35-45 years and therefore should be designed to deliver the highest lethality survivability and agility on the battlefield combined with a fully digitised data backbone architecture to enable Next-generation operational capabilities and automation.
The expected induction timeline is by 2030, and it will come along with performance-based logistics, transfer of technology, engineering support package and other maintenance and training requirements, they said.
One of the sources said that the FRCVs which will be procured in the first phase, would have existing technologies, the second one with the advanced technologies while the third phase would be futuristic technologies.
The need to replace ageing T-72 tanks was felt after considering the future threat spectrum and the 'combat overmatch' over the adversary.
In June 2021, the government issued a request for information (RFI) to procure 1,770 new 'state-of-the art' 'technology-enabled' tanks to operate in existing terrain configuration under varied temperature conditions.
"Now, with the rapid pace in technology, there are 'new' threats to the 'Tank' from the aerial dimension with Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs), Loitering Munitions, among others. The improvement in Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) has also made targeting of Land Forces including the 'Tank' easier. The battlefield now requires all forces to operate in a synergetic and networked environment," the RFI had said.