India revives near-dead FICV with new tender
India’s revived FICV programme will see a new IFV replace in-service BMP-2 Sarath vehicles. (Gordon Arthur)
The FICV has re-emerged as a major programme for the Indian Army, after lying pretty much dormant for the past 4-5 years.
On 23 June, an RfI from the Indian MoD reinvigorated its flagging effort to enlist a new Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV), designed to replace the venerable BMP-2 IFV in Indian Army service.
The last major effort involved an expression of interest (EoI) for a $10 billion FICV programme in March 2016, to which eight companies responded. On that occasion, the army was seeking 2,600 vehicles, with the government-owned Ordnance Factory Board already down-selected as one manufacturer.
However, that vast quantity has been sharply reduced to 1,750 tracked FICVs under the latest RfI. The Indian Army wants three variants
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