Soviet and Russian military hardware makes up around 40 percent of all hardware in the Indian ground forces (it is even more in India's Air Force — 80 percent, and Navy — 75 percent). In total, there are around 600 T-55 tanks (in store), almost 2,000 T-72M1, 640 T-90S tanks and 124 locally-made Arjun.

The new tank the Indian Army plans to design and manufacture is known as the Future Ready Combat Vehicle (FRCV).

The new generation MBT will form the base platform for other armored vehicles, similar to the Russian-made Armata platform. The Indian army wants to use the platform for as many as 11 different tracked vehicles, including light tracked, wheeled, bridge layer and trawl tanks, self-propelled howitzers, air defense guns, artillery observation post and engineering reconnaissance vehicles, and armored ambulances, the Diplomat said.

The Indian Army plans to design and develop a futuristic combat vehicle called the Future Ready Combat Vehicle (FRCV) to replace the T-72 tanks of the Armored Corp starting 2025-27.

This tracked fighting vehicle would feature a modular design that will be leveraged to create a family of combat vehicles.

The FRCV's modular design would be flexible to an extent where it can be configured to operate in varying terrain.

The following variants are planned to be developed on the FRCV platform:

- Tracked Main Battle Tank - Primary variant.
- Tracked Light Tank.
- Wheeled Version.
- Bridge Layer Tank (BLT).
- Trawl Tank and Mine Ploughs.
- Armored Recovery Vehicle (ARV).
- Self Propelled Artillery Gun/Howitzer.
- Air Defense Gun/Msl System.
- Artillery Observation Post Vehicle.
- Engineer Reconnaissance Vehicle.
- Armored Ambulance.

What makes the Armata tank stand out from its domestic and foreign counterparts is that the crew is securely enclosed in a multi-layer armored capsule separated from the ammunition container. The vehicle is fully computerized and only needs three servicemen to operate it.