Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicles
GS PAPER III: Security challenges and their management in border areas - linkages of organized crime with terrorism.
Context: The Army has issued a Request For Information (RFI) for the procurement of 1,750 Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicles (FICVs) to replace the Russian-origin infantry vehicles in service.
- Approximately, 55% of them should be gun version, 20% command version and 25% command and surveillance version.
- A three-stage induction model has been proposed by the Army and Indian vendors can collaborate with Foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to supply FICVs within two years of the contract at the rate of 75-100 vehicles per year
- FICVs will be employed for cross-country operations, including amphibious operations in plain and desert terrain along the Western borders and high altitudes, up to 5000m, and mountain terrain along the northern borders in eastern Ladakh, the central sector and north Sikkim.
- They will replace the 1980s vintage Russian-origin BMP-2.
- The main operational tasks that will have to performed by the FICV are to destroy enemy tanks, armoured personnel carriers, combat vehicles, low flying helicopters and other ground-based weapon platforms and positions.
- The vehicle should have a service or operational life of at least 32 years with maximum one overhaul and repair.
- The FICV should be modular in design, enabling future upgrades through simple modifications and to facilitate subsequent development of family of armoured fighting vehicles like command-control vehicles, armoured personnel carrier, armoured ambulance, mortar carrier, command post vehicle, reconnaissance and surveillance vehicle, NBC reconnaissance vehicle, engineer reconnaissance vehicle, armoured recovery vehicle among others.
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