In Indian Army BMP-2 is considered as APC as it carriers 8 trooper inside and its sole vehicle in Mech Inf, BMP-2 is also considered ICV/ IFV as its been upgraded with additional 30mm AGL with 30mm cannon also a 7.62mg plus a ATGM above, Its also used for tank support Vehicle as it can lunch ATGM hence its use with heavy Armour, Its a Universal Armored Vehicle in Indian Army..
It's not quite correct to say that BMP-2 is considered as APC (and not ICV) in IA just because it carries troops, fact is all ICV/IFV's carry troops. however, ICV's are usually tasked with operating alongside tank formations, so that they are able to provide infantry support to tanks, while the ICV's themselves have enough firepower to support the infantry. a key requirement is for ICV's to be able to sustain a speed and mobility enough to keep up with the MBT's, both on road and cross country. this is something most APC's don't have (and don't need)
APC's on the other hand are simply a means to transport infantry to the battlefield in relative security. for a long time US army used the M113 for this role. now it's not that you can't use ICV's for this role but it would be very costly to do so. ICV's also require a larger logistics trail.
in US army for example, bradleys are in the role of ICV's
Bradley Fighting Vehicle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and operate alongside the abrams, while in the soviet army, many of whose armoured practices we adopted, used the BMP in ICV role to operate alongside their tank regiments while the lightly armoured BTR's were used as APC.
to understand the role of BMP's in Indian Army you have to see in which units they are assigned to.
ALL IA BMP's are assigned to mechanized infantry battalions in support of tank regiments as part of armoured brigades, whether in RAPIDs, armoured divisions or independent armoured brigades.
clearly, IA uses the BMP as a thoroughbred ICV.
Indian Army use OFB MPVs in J&K..
and in NE. but these are exclusively in COIN (counter insurgency) operations, they are not used as troop transport in line units. (btw Ray sir has experienced an IED blast while in an MPV, so he told us long back at BR, you should ask him to narrate his experience)
also, I wanted to ask you, are you sure these are OFB MPV's and not casspir ? I thought the army uses the casspir and OFB MPV is used only by the central police organizations like CRPF ?
My Idea abt a perfect APC/IFV/ICV in one is a heavily armored hull with a 30/40mm cannon and a ATGM launcher under RCWS..
Hull is something between Namer and Abhya yet Air transportable..
2 points here, firstly, we won't be able to afford something as costly as ICV to mechanize the large number of infantry formations we have.
neither is it needed, ICV's are made to a very high level of requirement regarding protection, mobility and firepower that are simply redundant in APC role. it's like using a sword to shave your beard !
secondly, namer is again an israeli solution to very specific israeli needs, we have no need for such a heavy and costly vehicle. or even anything close to its weight category (which is 60 tonnes !) !
for ICV's the current sweet spot seems to be between 20 and 30 tonnes, a decent balance between protection and mobility can be achieved at around the middle of this band. the abhay tilts the scales at 23 tonnes while the future GCV of us army would come at around the same weight of the bradley ~ 27 tonnes.
here's a caveat though, ideally we would like this vehicle to be transportable by the workhorse of the future transport fleet of IAF, not the C-17 but the MRTA which is expected to be much more numerous. however, the MRTA's payload capacity is only 20 tonnes.
in such a situation we would be well served to design the FICV at under 20 tonnes, if aircraft mobility is not a requirement then it really should be. the other alternative is of course increase the payload of MRTA, which may or may not be possible.
one way to keep the weight low would be to use bolt on armour liberally, so that the weight sans the armour comes below 20 tonnes and the armour is added on the field before engaging the enemy.