Future Ready Combat Vehicle (FRCV)
The Indian Army is seeking development of futuristic combat vehicle for induction by 2025-27. This fighting vehicle needs to be developed on a modular concept as part of a family of combat vehicles. The Tracked Main Battle Tank will be the primary/base variant and the entire project will be called the Future Ready Combat Vehicle (FRCV).
The Indian Army requires state of the art Main Battle Tank namely Future Ready Combat Vehicle (FRCV) to replace the existing tank fleet. It would be required to operate across developed / semidesert/desert terrain and in high altitude areas across the entire spectrum of conflict. It will be a technologically enabled futuristic tank to cater for current and future operational requirements beyond year 2050. The Main Battle Tank – FRCV being the fore runner will pave the way subsequently for a family of supporting platforms, based on a modular approach and base platform standardisation.
A ‘Future’ Combat Platform design must cater for ‘future’ battlefield environment and technological possibilities. To address the future battlefield scenario and the envisaged force profile in the coming years, the FRCV needs to be developed on a modular concept with a high degree of flexibility in a manner that, as a tank platform, it can address the varying requirements of different terrain configurations. At the same time it can provide the base on which a ‘Family of Vehicles’, catering to the operational needs of various arms of the Army, can be developed.
The following variants are planned to be developed on the FRCV platform:-
- Tracked Main Battle Tank - Primary variant.
- Tracked Light Tank.
- Wheeled Version.
- Bridge Layer Tank (BLT).
- Trawl Tank and Mine Ploughs.
- Armored Recovery Vehicle (ARV).
- Self Propelled Artillery Gun/Howitzer.
- Air Defence Gun/Msl System.
- Artillery Observation Post Vehicle.
- Engineer Reconnaissance Vehicle.
- Armored Ambulance.
The FRCV will be a fighting vehicle platform that will be required to conduct sustained continuous operations by day and night in all weather conditions in terrain and temperature ranges obtaining on India’s Western borders.
The design should be modular and compact to enable strategic, operational and battlefield mobility, as also facilitate up-gradation, easy replacement/ repair of assemblies and production of variants. The FRCV platform should enable creation of variants for employment in various operational roles in all terrain by varying its configuration and/ or weight/ armor envelopes.
The FRCV should be in the `Medium Tank’ category whose physical dimensions should facilitate transportability over existing terrain, in-service military bridges and major civilian infrastructure (including bridges) in the border areas (on either side of the Western border).
The number of crew members should be such that they can perform their designated tasks, and operate all on-board systems without hindrance and without any overlapping of duties/ responsibilities.
Fire Power should be well matched to contemporary MBTs in engagement ranges, all-weather day/night fighting capability, depth of penetration and variety of ammunition. Should have very high accuracy [High FRHP (First Round Hit Probability)] and very high lethality [High SSKP (Single Shot Kill Probability)], at par with contemporary MBTs.
Should provide very high all-round protection, including ballistic, active and any other form of anti-armor technologies, to ensure survivability in the contemporary and future battlefield. Should incorporate signature reduction technologies. High response evasion/ anti-detection system.
Should have adequately high power-to-weight ratio to enable all on-board systems to be run simultaneously, without disrupting the agility and mobility of the vehicle. Should have high operating range, comparable to contemporary MBTs.
Rahul Bedi noted that "The Army’s request is for an FRCV that will not only serve as a ‘medium’-sized main battle tank to replace the Army’s ageing fleet of licence-built Russian T-72s but also as a ‘light-tracked and wheeled tank’, built on the same platform.... Surely, the Directorate General of Mechanised Forces at Army Headquarters, responsible for issuing the request, realises the irony and irrationality of drawing up such absurd general staff qualitative requirements (GSQRs), which are technologically impossible for any manufacturer to fulfil."
A request for information was sent to 12 Main Battle Tank manufacturers (Russian T14, American M1, German Leopard 2, South Korean K2, Turkish Atalay, Serbian M-84, Ukrainian T-84, Italian Ariete, Israeli Merkava, Challenger GB, French Leclerc) to acquire 1,700 with partly local production. It seemed that the Leclerc tank with its mass of only 55 tons, its good mobility with its 1,500 hp engine and the excellence of its turret and firing system, was very well placed. Therefore, for the French army and NEXTER, winning this program would be likely to put the lines of assembly in France and India making the acquisition price of this tank particularly competitive, both for the Indian and French armies and for export. All the more so since the short and medium material needs of France are at least 400 combat tanks in addition to Indian needs, all while sharing with India the cost of developing specialized versions in command. , engineers, mobile artillery and anti-aircraft defense which the French army needs and which it sorely lacks. Also, taking into account the current global rearmament and taking into account the economies of scale induced by this project, France may initiate a reflection with the KNDS Euro Main Battle Tank , resulting from the alliance between Krauss Maffei Wegmann and Nexter Systems, i.e. the solution).
The purchase of 1,770 “tanks of the future” would be under the “Strategic Partner” procedure. This procedure involves an Indian holder for the contract, in principle private, and a transfer of technology, which will ultimately lead to the systems being produced locally in India. The first systems should be commissioned as early as 2030 to replace the aging T72 fleet. With its partner KMW (Krauss Maffei Wegmann) within the KNDS group, Nexter analyzes the possible solutions to meet Indian requirements and prepares the best response that KNDS can provide to this request.
As soon as political support appears necessary, the Ministry of the Armed Forces, as part of the partnership with India, will support the industrial proposal in its efforts and will ensure any synergies that may exist between the needs of the Indian armies and French national needs. With its partner KMW (Krauss Maffei Wegmann) within the KNDS group, Nexter analyzes the possible solutions to meet Indian requirements and prepares the best response that KNDS can provide to this request.
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