New Delhi: In a boost to the government’s ambitious Make in India project, for Indian Army a fully indigenous Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) is being developed by Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The vehicle tentatively named Mark I will help modernise Indian Army’s infantry frontier which currently relies on BMP II, an infantry personnel carrier with a 30 mm gun.

The joint collaboration between OFB and the DRDO will yield results in a period of three to five years.

The advance features which were at the drawing board stage will now be included in the FICV, OFB chairman Hari Mohan was quoted as saying. He said that DRDO and OFB, which were earlier working separately on the project, decided to join forces to develop the project.

Mohan said that the specifications and features of the project will keep advancing as it is an evolving project. When the project attains a satisfactory stage in tune with the feedback of Indian Army officials, the factory will begin production of the infantry vehicle, he said.

With enhanced firepower, the vehicle will boast of an auto-grenade launcher with a range of 1,500 metres, an OFB official was quoted as saying. It will also include an anti-tank guided missile capability which can fire missiles within a range of 4,000 metres with automatic command, the official added.

A gun control system linked with a thermal imager fire control is another big ticket feature that makes the FICV highly advanced, the official said.