HYDERABAD: To confuse and confound the enemy on the battlefield, the Ordnance Factory Medak (OFM) in Telangana is working on new generation technologies for its future infantry combat vehicles (FICVs).
These vehicles being designed for the Army will run on electricity, making them more difficult to detect on the battlefield as the loud rumbling noise will be substantially reduced. They will also have more firepower.
“This is going to be a game-changer,” OFM general manager Alok Prasad told TOI at the factory at Eddumailaram in Sangareddy district. According to Prasad, FICVs will be equipped with next generation missiles being developed by the DRDO.
“FICVs will have a fire and forget missile,” he added. “Work began last year, and it will take 2-3 years more for fruition. The hybrid variety could be lapped up by others. We will develop it, demonstrate it and showcase it,” he said.
The hybrid vehicle’s electric engine will have many advantages apart from less fuel consumption. “You can operate in a quieter way. Your identifiability in the field gets reduced. Because of the running of the traditional engine, you can be caught by laser or heat-checking missiles. But if you operate silently with electric motors and generators, your survivability increases,” Prasad explained.
He added they are developing the technologies indigenously at the OFM so as to remain contemporary in the global scenario. R&D capability at OFM will make it possible, he said. “It will be a matter of pride that the FICVs will roll out from OFM. This is the only place in the country where infantry combat vehicles are produced. This will be the flagship,” he said.
FICVs will have superior mobility, survivability and much better fire power. The infantry combat vehicle will also be equipped with a host of new generation technologies, electronics, electro-optics, fire control systems and missiles, which officials say they will keep under wraps for the time being.
