News Story: Barriers Impede Revival of Indian Vehicle Project

By Vivek Raghuvanshi

NEW DELHI — India's attempt to revive its homemade Future Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) project, worth more than $10 billion, is unlikely to succeed because the defense industry views the selection criteria as  subjective and rules covering intellectual property rights will raise objections from overseas partners, analysts said.

Though the FICV is restricted to domestic companies, analysts said collaboration with overseas companies will be needed in several areas.

The Defence Ministry last month floated fresh expressions of interest for the second time in five years,  inviting private and state-owned domestic companies, two of which will be chosen as development agencies (DA) to develop and build the FICV in the "Make in India" category, in which the government funds 80 percent of the cost of the prototype.

After trials of the prototype, one of the DAs would be shortlisted and asked to produce the FICV to replace more than 2,600 Russian-made BMP infantry combat vehicles, for an estimated cost of over $10 billion.

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News Story: India May Restart Vehicle Program

Indian BMP2 during an exercise (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons)

By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI

NEW DELHI — India’s Defence Ministry is considering restarting a US $10 billion infantry vehicle replacement program in order to include more domestic defense companies as potential bidders.

The Future Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) program is likely to be among the first major decisions by the new government voted in last month, an MoD source said.

The Indian Army wants to produce 3,000 vehicles to replace upgraded Russian combat vehiclesat a cost of over $10 billion under the FICV program, first conceived in 2009.

Under the “Make India” arrangement, the government will finance up to 80 percent of the cost of the prototype, to be built by two short-listed development partners. After the prototype is put to trial and evaluated, one development partner is selected to produce the futuristic vehicles.

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News Story: India Wants Domestic Production of Pilatus Trainers

By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI

NEW DELHI — After contracting 75 basic trainer aircraft from Pilatus in 2012, the Indian Ministry of Defence wants to buy an additional 106 that would be license-built by a domestic company.

But domestic defense firms find the proposal uneconomical, and state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) is pushing its own homegrown basic trainer, though the Indian Air Force has already rejected it.

The request for information, described by the defense industry as the first of its kind, asks selected domestic companies if they would participate in the proposed $1.2 billion program to build 106 Pilatus PC-7 Mark-II trainers under license from the Swiss company in the “Buy and Make (Indian)” category, which restricts contracts to domestic defense companies and requires that at least half of the components and subsystems come from domestic sources.

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News Story: India Rejects BMP-3 Offer, Will Maintain FICV Program

Indian Army BMP2 (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons)

By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI

NEW DELHI — India will not shelve its homegrown $10 billion Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) program in favor of advanced Russian BMP-3 combat vehicles.

The decision was conveyed to the Russian side at the Nov. 18 meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation held in Moscow, officials said.

During Russian President Vladmir Putin’s visit to India last December, the Russians offered to transfer technology for its BMP-3 infantry combat vehicles if India agreed to shelve its indigenous FICV program, which will see production of 2,600 vehicles to replace aging BMP-1 and BMP-2 combat vehicles.

The FICV program will now get rolling as debate over the Russian proposal had pushed the FICV project into the background, said an Indian Defence Ministry source.

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