Future Ready Combat Vehicle (FRCV)
Program
The Indian Army plans to procure over 1,700 Future Ready Combat Vehicles (FRCVs) in a phased manner under the strategic partnership route, with the induction of the “future tank” expected to be completed by 2030. According to a Request for Information (RFI) floated by the Army 01 June 2021, the 1,770 FRCVs will be procured along with transfer of technology, performance-based logistics, engineering support package, and other maintenance and training requirements. The prospective vendors will have to respond to the RFI by 15 September 2021. An earlier Request for Proposal floated on the procurement of FRCVs in 2017 stands cancelled. Earlier in 2021, the Ministry of Defence had granted approval to the Army’s proposal to procure 118 indigenously-manufactured Arjun Mark 1-A ‘Hunter Killers’ at a cost of Rs 8,380 crore. In April 2021, the Army had also floated an RFI to procure around 350 light tanks in a phased manner under the Make in India initiative, to sharpen its mountain warfare edge amid the ongoing Ladakh stalemate. Soviet and Russian military hardware makes up around 40 percent of all hardware in the Indian ground forces (it is even more in India's Air Force — 80 percent, and Navy — 75 percent). In total, there are around 600 T-55 tanks, almost 2,000 T-72M1 and 640 T-90C tanks.
The new tank will replace the army’s obsolescent T-72 tanks. The FRCV would be developed instead of the the Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO) proposal to design the next-generation Future Main Battle Tank (FMBT). FRCV is a direct blow to “Make in India”, replacing not just the indigenous FMBT project but potentially also the Future Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) project that is being tendered shortly to Indian vendors.
The FMBT project – which the government told Parliament on December 6, 2010, would be completed by 2020 – could be worth Rs 1,50,000 crore. This includes about Rs 25,000 crore for design, development and testing, and replacing the army’s 2,500-odd T-72 variants for about Rs 50 crore a tank. Replacing the army’s 2,600 BMP-II infantry combat vehicles would cost another Rs 50,000 crore. Currently the indigenous FICV project covers this replacement.
India is considering to buy Russia’s new-generation Armata combat platform or some of its elements for future use in a new tank of its own. “India plans to develop its own tank – the Future Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) – and I believe that our budget allowing, we could buy the Armata, or at least some of its component parts, for study and future use in our new tank,” Samir Patil, a defense expert with India’s Gateway House analytical center, said in an interview with Sputnik 05 June 2015.
Patil was commenting on a statement by Russian presidential adviser on military-technical cooperation Vladimir Kozhin that Russia’s foreign partners, including China and India, had expressed interest in purchasing new military equipment presented at the May 9 Victory Day parade in Moscow. “I think India would like to purchase such a combat platform for its armed forces,” Samir Patil said. He did not rule out the possible development with Russia of India’s much-needed “tank of the future”.
“Russia is the only country India is developing new weapons with. These are the PAK FA fifth-generation fighter jet and a multirole transport plane… I think another reason why we would like to jointly develop India’s new tank is that this answers the “Make in India” initiative put forward by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi. Its main objective is to attract foreign capital and technological investment in India for joint R&D and production,” Patil emphasized.
On 10 June 2015 the Directorate General of Mechanised Forces (DGMF), General Staff Branch, Integrated HQ of Ministry of Defence (Army), issued a Request For Information from vendors for designs for a Future Ready Combat Vehicle for the Indian Army. The requested information was to be forwarded 31 July 2015.
In the FRCV development process, the development of FRCV will be in three separate stages, namely Design stage, Prototype Development stage and Production stage. The Design Agency and Developing Agency (DA) can be separate entities. The best design will be chosen and given to nominated DA(s) for production of the prototype(s). The selected prototype will be given to Production Agency(s) (PAs) for bulk production.
In the Design Stage, there will be a FRCV Design Competition for selecting the best design. Established tank designers will be invited by means of a global RFP (Request For Proposal), wherein the broad design philosophy for the FRCV will be given out, along with the detailed guidelines for conduct of the Competition. The participants will be asked to submit detailed designs based on the FRCV design philosophy. The evaluation and selection of the best design will be carried out by a Design Selection Committee, under the aegis of DGMF, which will have members selected from amongst domain experts and representatives of concerned defence agencies. The selection will be based on detailed and comprehensive Evaluation Criteria.
In the Prototype Development Stage, the selected design will be given to nominated DAs. These DAs will then develop the design and produce their respective prototypes. There will be close involvement of the User (Service HQ) and the Design Agency with the DA(s) during the development of the prototype(s).
In the Production Stage, after the prototypes are successfully trial evaluated, the approved design will be given to one/ two nominated Production Agencies (PAs) for bulk production. There has been no case in procurement history where one agency has designed a product, another has developed the prototype, and a third has carried out mass manufacture.
While the detailed guidelines and the operational requirements/design philosophy of the FRCV will be articulated later, the broad framework of the proposed Design Competition is as follows. The Design Competition will be open to tank design bureaus/ agencies from within and outside the country, and will be conducted in two stages.
In the first stage, based on the operational requirements and design philosophy given out, participants will submit broad concept designs, giving out the outline configuration and layout of the platform. These will be evaluated and shortlisted by the Design Selection Committee, under the aegis of DGMF.
In the second stage, shortlisted participants will be asked to submit detailed designs of the FRCV platform on a common software platform. The detailed designs will be evaluated by the Design Selection Committee. The best design(s) will be shortlisted in order of innovative design and suitability for Indian Army. The winning design(s) will carry suitable cash prize(s).
The winning design(s) will become the sole property of the Indian Army.
The agency/bureau whose designs are selected will require to continue to work on the project through the prototype and the Limited Series Production (LSP) stages. For this, a separate contract will be drawn. The agency/bureaus participating in this competition will mandatorily have to give an undertaking to this effect while applying for the competition.
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