India’s Future Tanks To Carry Kamikaze Drones as AVNL Floats Major EoI

AVNL has invited Indian companies to partner in developing advanced loitering munitions and surveillance drones for future Indian battle tanks under the indigenous FRCV programme.

New Delhi: Armoured Vehicles Nigam Limited has issued an Expression of Interest (EoI) to identify Indian industry partners for the design, development and supply of advanced drone systems for its future main battle tanks, signalling a major push towards integrating unmanned systems into next-generation armoured warfare capabilities.

The EoI, floated through Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF), Avadi, seeks companies capable of developing three categories of drones for the AVNL Main Battle Tank platform – loitering munitions, untethered surveillance drones and tethered drones.

The procurement is aligned with the Buy (Indian-IDDM) category under the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020, with a strong emphasis on indigenous technology and domestic manufacturing.

According to the document, AVNL plans to procure three prototype sets during the development phase, followed by potential series production of 590 systems if the company’s tank platform is selected by the Ministry of Defence under the Future Ready Combat Vehicle (FRCV) programme.

The proposed drone ecosystem is intended to significantly enhance battlefield awareness and beyond-line-of-sight strike capability for Indian armoured formations.

The loitering munition system is expected to engage armoured targets with a penetration capability of at least 500 mm rolled homogeneous armour (RHA), with a desirable threshold of 600 mm, including the ability to defeat explosive reactive armour through top-attack profiles.

The loitering munition is also expected to have a minimum operational range of 15 kilometres, endurance of at least 45 minutes and circular error probability of less than one metre.

The system is required to operate in plains, deserts, forests, urban terrain and mountainous regions, including at altitudes up to 18,000 feet above mean sea level.

For surveillance roles, AVNL has sought untethered drones capable of transmitting 2K video at 30 frames per second over 20 kilometres while operating in electronic warfare environments. The surveillance drones are expected to feature encrypted communications, autonomous navigation in GNSS-denied conditions, automatic target tracking and return-to-home capability.

The EoI also outlines plans for tethered drones that would provide persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance as well as communication relay functions for armoured fighting vehicles. These systems are expected to draw power directly from the vehicle, enabling prolonged aerial surveillance during combat operations.

AVNL has mandated a minimum indigenous content level of more than 50 per cent during the prototype phase, rising progressively to 80 per cent by the final production lot. The company has reserved the right to physically verify claims related to indigenous design and development.

The EoI is open only to Indian companies, including MSMEs, public sector undertakings and government entities. Firms participating directly in the Indian Army’s FRCV, FICV, ARV or light tank platform-level programmes have been barred from participating in this drone project.

The document underscores the growing importance of drone warfare lessons emerging from recent global conflicts, particularly the increasing integration of unmanned systems with armoured platforms for reconnaissance, targeting and precision strike missions.