That opportunity is gone. More like the army rejected it.
Now the plan is to get new upgrades in and export them as and when they are replaced by FRCV.
That opportunity is gone. More like the army rejected it.
Now the plan is to get new upgrades in and export them as and when they are replaced by FRCV.
Pvt companies like L&T or Tata would have jumped at the chance to develop a local upgrade solution for old T-72s and break into a large export market.
Even if FRCV is ordered in a couple of years (a long shot given IA procurement track record over the years), it would take a decade plus for us to replace the T-72 fleet. An unified upgrade for T-72/90 would be cost-effective and reduce dependence on Russian OEMs for spares and support.
Personally, I don't see the IA going for the Leclerc or any other Western-origin tank. So the whole idea behind FRCV is moot. Just an obvious attempt to legitimize the procurement of T-90M or Armata (which isn't even in series production iirc). If FMBT is indeed based on the same chassis as Zorawar LT, then it won't be long before it is ready for trials. Probably inside of 2030.
I doubt there's gonna be a change in turret though. Just new engine and electronics will do. About 900-1000 T-72s are gonna get an upgraded engine.
There is a T-72 tank upgraded with a T-90 turret called Atharva. The IA did it as an experiment to upgrade the T-72, but this version may end up being offered for export with the upgraded engine rather than use it ourselves. I guess the plan is to offer this upgrade to existing T-72 operators with Russia, along with selling our own phased out tanks. Perhaps it will be round-tripped back to Russia. Or the Russians will use the Indian line for exports, if it comes to that.
If we go by IA's RFI, they are looking at crew pod with 2/3 crew members. Only 4 known tanks fit the bill, France/Germany, SoKo, Russia, and DRDO, and only the latter 3 are less than 55T. DRDO's design has the advantage, although we need to see if they can adapt to the new PSQR. SoKo's may be the most advanced one though.
Doubt there'd be any takers for an unproven T-72+90 hybrid like Atharva. Most buyers would probably prefer something like VT-4. Ukraine has utterly exposed the fatal flaws of T-series tanks, at least as far as crew survivability goes. Russia routing tanks for export through India appears unlikely as it will come under the CAATSA radar, sooner than later.
That one is the dark horse. But it would put the FMBT project at risk since they're in broadly the same category.
There are hundreds of T-72s in the export market in need of upgrades. For India, the immediate goal could be to arm Armenia quickly with 100-200 upgraded tanks.
CAATSA won't affect this type of deal because the majority shareholder will be Indian.
As long as the best tank wins, that's the end of that. We need to increase costs for Pakistan significantly.
Best is a relative term. FMBT is being built to IA specs from the ground up. Now that Zorawar is already in testing, it could only be a matter of time before FMBT is ready. There would be commonality advantages too.
With K2, you'd have to spend a ton on tropicalization for terrain/altitude a la K-9 redux. Also, K2 tips the scales in terms of cost at over $8m a pop.
That's entirely dependent on the new PSQR. FMBT was developed on a much older PSQR from more than a decade ago that called for a 40T tank. It later morphed into GNMBT and now NGMBT. DRDO could end up having to make a whole new design from earlier iterations.
Zorawar is only for 59 tanks. Unless it wins the light tank competition, it's not gonna matter. It has to beat BF's new design. OFB's gonna participate with Sprut-SD, with the same gun as the T-90's, a huge advantage, but it's unlikely to displace Zorawar.
The new SoKo tank is K3. Tropicalization is not expensive, but yeah, there's potential for DRDO to have a price advantage.
But if SoKo's design ends up as T1 and the difference is large, the army will simply junk the tender and go for a GTG.
K3 is still under development. Unlikely, it'll be considered over the in-service K2 imo.
K2 is the only new-gen tank likely to participate in FRCV. The others are all souped-up versions of legacy tanks.
If SoKo can offer a Biho SPAAG variant on the same chassis, the IA'd likely take them up on it.
Per earlier reports, BF was supposed to unveil its LT design by Dec '24. I'm hoping they'd do so at AI '25.
BTW, Baba Kalyani is on record stating that BF will also be bidding for FCRV. It'd be interesting to see if they've come up with a clean-sheet MBT design with help from Paramount Group.
Don't believe Paramount has one in the product portfolio currently. As for the LT requirement, the Kaplan is the only other option which can be precluded because of the Turkey-Pak equation.
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For this to happen, the armed forces must move away from their penchant for piecemeal orders. The IA is the worst offender in this regard.
Case in point: LT requirement split into 2.
No pvt company worth the name would want to invest in R&D or even local value addition on license-built products until they can prove RoI.
K2 is a traditional tank design, IA's RFI asks for a crew pod and unmanned turret. That's why K2, Leclerc, Abrams, Leopard, T-90M etc are not possible. And K3 is expected to be ready by 2030 alongside DRDO's design.
The biggest flaw of DRDO's design is their manufacturing partner is OFB.
Anyway, it's possible that FOEMs will design brand new tanks alongside their partners for FRCV instead of offering generic versions of K3 or Armata.
Biho? How does that fit in? Let's see when the SPAAG process begins. There are multiple companies in the fray.
Yeah, so the potential for new India-specific FRCV and FICV designs, like the LT.
There are only 2 other competitors for LT, others don't have amphibious capabilities.
Both Zorawar and BF's tank use available technologies that cut down on R&D costs. So the only R&D bit is the hull. And whatever R&D carried out is being done on MoD's funds via DRDO. For example, they are developing a new engine and that engine can be used in FICV as well, and the hull is DRDO's too. It uses an American gun and French electronics that are directly imported.
And naturally, if Zorawar ends with just 59 tanks, assuming BF wins the main tender, then L&T would make more by producing 40% of BF's design, while also selling those 59 tanks at a profit.
Overall, the new system has been fleshed out, hence all these willing participants.
Remember this:
DRDO is working on reducing active/passive IR signature of armored vehicles using this HNS armour:
DRDO is working on reducing active/passive IR signature of armored vehicles using this HNS armour: