Tata Motors’ wheeled armoured amphibious platform at DefExpo 2014

New Delhi : Tata Motors, the largest vehicle mobility solutions provider to the Indian armed forces, will display a new specialty vehicle, WHAP (Wheeled Armoured Amphibious Platform) and LAMV (Light Armoured Multipurpose Vehicles) during the upcoming Defexpo 2014 to be held at Pragati Maidan.

The company has also secured an order worth Rs 220 crore to export 520 special military vehicles for the United Nation- funded peacekeeping force in West Africa. The vehicles are currently going through prototyping, validation and testing with deliveries to start by May-June this year.

Talking to Autocar Professional on the sidelines of a round-table discussion on the Tata Group’s presence in the defence sector, Vernon Noronha, vice-president, defence and government business, Tata Motors, said, “The 520 special military vehicles include ambulances, jeeps, water and fuel tankers, recovery trucks, and refrigeration trucks with 6x6 and 4x4 configuration with left-hand drive and air-conditioned cabins.”

Tata Motors, which has been supplying vehicles to India’s armed forces since the last six decades, is now focusing on modernisation and system upgradation of mobility platforms while moving from being a logistics supports vehicles provider to combat vehicles players.

The Wheeled Armoured Amphibious Platform, developed along with DRDO, is powered by a 600 hp engine coupled with automatic transmission and is a modular vehicle with interchangeable snap-in modules. “The vehicle is almost ready and we are waiting for DRDO to start the testing and validation at their facility. Once the trial results come, we hope the government will place an order for these vehicles soon,” said Noronha.

At present, 14 Tata companies are engaged in providing support to India’s defence sector. The Group’s revenue from the defence sector for fiscal 2013 was over Rs 1,700 crore and is expected to grow by 40 percent in fiscal 2014. The current order book size of the Tata Group in the defence business is in excess of Rs 8,000 crore.

KIRAN BAJAD
L-R: Sukaran Singh, director, Tata Advanced Systems; Dr Mukund Rajan, Member - Group Executive Council and Brand Custodian, Tata Sons; Rahul Chaudhry, CEO, Tata Power Strategic Engineering Division and Vernon Noronha, VP, Defence & Government Business, Tata Motors, at the round-table discussion on Tata companies in the defence sector held in New Delhi.