The first MAN in Bhutan.

When the Airport Rescue & Fire Fighting Service of Bhutan’s civil aviation department wanted to replace one of a pair of crash fire tenders at the country’s Paro airport in 2008, it turned to a trusted supplier in Kooverji Devshi & Co, India’s oldest and most reputed custom-builder of firefighting vehicles.

Kooverji Devshi, based in Navi Mumbai, had bodied all the fire trucks in Bhutan’s airport fleet – two 6×6 Tatras, a 4×4 Ashok Leyland, and a couple of smaller Japanese vehicles, – and quickly determined that only one make of chassis would meet the requirement for rapid response to crash emergencies at one of the world’s scariest landing strips.

Accordingly, it directed them to MAN Truck & Bus India, the short-lived subsidiary of MAN Nutzfahrzeuge in India that was responsible for marketing the German truckmaker’s TGA WW and special-application vehicles in the region before it was wound up under pressure from MAN’s joint venture partner Force Motors.

Given the Bhutanese authorities’ list of requirements, Franz Neundlinger, vice-president of applications, drew up a detailed spec for a TGA 33.390 6×6 cab-and-chassis with planetary axles and BrakeMatic electronic braking system that blends the action of the service brakes, engine brake, and retarder.

A configuration that had proved itself in firefighting, military transport, and other special applications worldwide, the vehicle was built in Vienna at MAN Nutzfahrzeuge Österreich, the competence centre for heavy tractors and all-wheel-drive and military vehicles.

Conversion specialist MAN Wittlich replaced the ZF AS-Tronic gearbox with a 6 HP 900 planetary transmission and fitted a crew bench for four firemen in place of the sleeper berth.

Kooverji Devshi added the 4,000-litre tank for water and foam and the Rosenbauer pump and foam proportioning system. The turret (spray gun) atop the cab is operated manually from inside. The maintenance requirements are minimal owing to the MAN Tronic onboard computer, which monitors all vital functions of chassis and body. The electronic features were programmed by Joachim Wachtler, service and support manager for MAN Force Trucks, who was responsible for final delivery of the vehicle to Bhutan on behalf of MAN last month and put together the service manuals and parts catalogue.

His job also involved finding a way to provide spare parts and support not only for this truck but also for two more 4×4 civil firefighting vehicles presently on order. “This customer had no basic tools. I had to advise them what to order, not only for our truck but also for their existing vehicles,” he told Autocar Professional