Infantry Combat Vehicles of Indian Army

Point is the US classifies Booker as a LT. Most LTs worldwide are in the 30-35t range, with the exception of Sprut-SD.

Our problem is we are still stuck in the PT-76 era. IA is not an expeditionary force, unlike the US. So the obsession with 25t category vehicles is completely misplaced, imo.

The stripped down pic of the DRDO/L&T vehicle you shared looks more suited to an air dropped role similar to Russia BMD-4, not LT.
BMD-4 has been a disaster in Ukraine....surviving Russian VDV troops doesn't trust the tin can anymore & prefer another tin can called BMP-2 & BMP-3 over it.
 
BMD-4 type vehicles only come into play once local air superiority has been achieved or they have no chance,

For SF ops behind enemy lines in the early days of war, you'd airdrop lighter ATV type vehicles like Polaris MZR or even the Mahindra Armado.
 
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Polish Borsuk

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Russian Kurganetz -25

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Both are Amphibious capable....Polish one is under production.... Light weight yet offer decent protection allegedly.

lightly armoured IFV have been a disaster in Russia-Ukraine War.... All Russian Cold war philosophy regarding low footprint & massive numbers has been tossed out of the window by modern sensors. BMD-4M's got not just destroyed but shattered into smithereens. BMP 1 to 3 got annihilated in thousands.

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vulnerability of these lightly armoured IFV to Artillery , Anti Tank weapons & even small arms fire was out in the open for everyone to see.... Complete disaster.

India operates thousands of such tin can & we are just replacing those with another tin cans with better sensors.

25 tonne IFV won't cut it
 
Polish Borsuk

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Russian Kurganetz -25

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Both are Amphibious capable....Polish one is under production.... Light weight yet offer decent protection allegedly.

lightly armoured IFV have been a disaster in Russia-Ukraine War.... All Russian Cold war philosophy regarding low footprint & massive numbers has been tossed out of the window by modern sensors. BMD-4M's got not just destroyed but shattered into smithereens. BMP 1 to 3 got annihilated in thousands.

View attachment 36323

vulnerability of these lightly armoured IFV to Artillery , Anti Tank weapons & even small arms fire was out in the open for everyone to see.... Complete disaster.

India operates thousands of such tin can & we are just replacing those with another tin cans with better sensors.

25 tonne IFV won't cut it
We are replacing BMD with what?
 
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Firstvexamples of FICV or even final spec is yet to out. How can some one tell that its an another tin can?
Because it's going to be a next-generation ICV which means it's going to be way ahead of older generation BMP-1/2 in all criteria including firepower, mobility, carrying capacity and even self-protection.

As per news, it'll have APS along with LWS. That should itself make it far better than in-service Russian ones.
 
Polish Borsuk

View attachment 36319
View attachment 36320


Russian Kurganetz -25

View attachment 36321
View attachment 36322

Both are Amphibious capable....Polish one is under production.... Light weight yet offer decent protection allegedly.

lightly armoured IFV have been a disaster in Russia-Ukraine War.... All Russian Cold war philosophy regarding low footprint & massive numbers has been tossed out of the window by modern sensors. BMD-4M's got not just destroyed but shattered into smithereens. BMP 1 to 3 got annihilated in thousands.

View attachment 36323

vulnerability of these lightly armoured IFV to Artillery , Anti Tank weapons & even small arms fire was out in the open for everyone to see.... Complete disaster.

India operates thousands of such tin can & we are just replacing those with another tin cans with better sensors.

25 tonne IFV won't cut it

Putin did pitch the BMP-3 to us during a meeting with Modi a few years back. I think the two signed an MoU of sorts on license producing the Ka-226 in India. Thankfully, the deal didn't go through or we'd be stuck with the BMPs for another 30-40 years.

Not that the BMP-2 is going out of service anytime soon (too expensive to replace in bulk, probably will take us 20 years to phase them out completely) but the thought of having another BMP-series IFV when the world, including the Russians themselves, were moving to better protected, better armed combat vehicles was kinda alarming!
 
The Poles were also an ex-Soviet block client like us. They operated everything from MiG-29s and T-72s to BMP-1/2s and more. But they have embarked on a rapid modernisation drive since joining NATO which continues till date. We, on the other hand, are still stuck with age-old gear, with limited upgrades like the T-72CIA, BMP-2K and T-90Mk3.

To be fair, the DRDO has been pitching modular composite armour panels to improve the protection levels of the BMPs but the IA decided against it. If the lightweight composite chassis of the Zorawar is derived from the same tech, I don't see why the Army would have said 'no' to outfitting the BMP fleet. Guess we'll never know.
 
The Poles were also an ex-Soviet block client like us. They operated everything from MiG-29s and T-72s to BMP-1/2s and more. But they have embarked on a rapid modernisation drive since joining NATO which continues till date. We, on the other hand, are still stuck with age-old gear, with limited upgrades like the T-72CIA, BMP-2K and T-90Mk3.

To be fair, the DRDO has been pitching modular composite armour panels to improve the protection levels of the BMPs but the IA decided against it. If the lightweight composite chassis of the Zorawar is derived from the same tech, I don't see why the Army would have said 'no' to outfitting the BMP fleet. Guess we'll never know.
Lightweight composite chassis will go flying high in real war.... Like they are goin in Ukraine right now. Lightweight has no future other than if soldier life doesn't matter. You will have your victory but at cost of millions of dead man.
 
Bro, given that the Ukranians are adding ERA blocks to the mighty Abrams shows that every tank can be busted. Crew training and experience matter a lot. We've seen Challengers, Leos and Abrams getting taken out by loitering munitions and FPVs.

Frankly, this was a shock for me too. I'd always rated Russian armour tech as inferior but the last few months have been an eye-opener.

Kanchan composite armour on the Arjun Mk1 was able to withstand direct shots during comparative trails with the T-90S, some years back. So add-on modular armour panels would have worked well on the BMP-2s, imo. But maybe there were other reasons.

Personally, I'd love to see the BMP-2s turret replaced with a new-gen local/Isreali one. It doesn't make sense to leave those side-mounted LM launcher dangling along that tiny turret. Plus the optics are also protruding out. If this is the final design, it's sub-optimal, to say the least!

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Bro, given that the Ukranians are adding ERA blocks to the mighty Abrams shows that every tank can be busted.
The logical answer is Tanks are the fighting machine of past. A few weeks trained group of teenagers with third gen anti tank missiles can take down a column of tanks manned by highly trained crews.
 
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The logical answer is Tanks are the fighting machine of past. A few weeks trained group of teenagers with third gen anti tank missiles can take down a column of tanks manned by highly trained crews.

Agree. Some tank manufacturers just built an invincible aura around their products using slick marketing tactics, that's all.

The Isreali Merkava is one such vehicle that turned out to vulnerable to close-in attacks with crude IEDs where the vaunted Iron Fist APS+ armour couldn't do shit. The high and mighty have been utterly humbled.