India started project to acquire new main battle tank to replace T-72 MBTs

Indian army has started the process to replace the ageing fleet of Soviet-made T-72 main battle tanks, called T-72 Ajeya in the Indian army. India last week, has invited all the International Company who will have interest to develop a new tracked combat platform.

Last week, the Indian Army released a global request for information (RFI) inviting responses by 31 July 2017 to develop a multi-purpose Future Ready Combat Vehicle (FRCV) in order to replace older license-built Soviet-era main-battle tanks (MBTs).


The Indian Army looks to procure this ne tender of FRCV under the Strategic Partnership model in collaboration with locale manufacturer.

The Future Read Combat Vehicle (FRCV) will be used mainly to design and develop a new main battle tank, but which can also be used for a future infantry fighting vehicle.

The vision of the Indian army with FRCV program is to a multi-role platform that could be used for 11 different tracked vehicles, including light tracked, wheeled, bridge layer and recovery tanks, self-propelled howitzers , mobile air defense guns, artillery observation post and engineering reconnaissance vehicles, and armored ambulances.

A request for proposal (RFP) is likely to be issued in the middle of 2018. The Indian Army is especially interested in keeping the weight of the tank at around 50 tons (plus or minus 15 tons, according to the RFI), which will exclude heavier foreign MBTs (e.g., the German Leopard 2 and U.S.-made M1-Abrams) from competing in the global tender. According to some media reports, the Indian MoD will especially look at four foreign MBT models: the Russian T-14 Armata, the Ukrainian T-84 Oplot, the French Leclerc, and the South Korean K2 Black Panther.

The Indian army hopes that the new main battle tank could enter in service between 2025 and 2027.

Currently the Indian army uses Russian main battle tanks produced under license in India as the T-72 and T-72M1, and T-90S. A total of 800 T-90S main battle tanks called Bhishma in the Indian army are currently in service with the armed forces of India. There is also 1,950 T-72M1 Ajjeya and 124 local-made main battle tank Arjun used by armoured units of India.