Indian Army, Air Force Struggle With Tank and Fighter Aircraft Shortages

摘要

The Indian Army (IA) is moving forward with its plans to replace the aging license-built Soviet-era T-72 MBTs and has issued a global Rfl inviting responses by 31 July to develop a multi-purpose Future Ready Combat Vehicle (FRCV). The Rfl comes as a blow to the DRDO's proposal to design the next-generation Future MBT (FMBT), considering that the IA has spent the last two years conceptualising on General Staff Qualitative Requirements (GSQRs) for the project. But during this time the army failed to narrow down its requirements, leaving the DRDO with an undeveloped product that was expected to be complete by 2020. However, the FMBT may not be the only tank project facing potential termination, the Future Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) project, currently being tendered to Indian conglomerates under the "Make" category of the Defence Procurement Policy (DPP), could bite the dust as well thus seriously undermining the "Make in India" campaign.