NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Defence intends to procure approximately 1,500 high-mobility vehicles for Army operations at multiple locations, including in high-altitude areas of the Himalayas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.
The vehicles will be used for transportation of heavy equipment, including ammunition, and for travelling on metalled roads and kutcha tracks.
The vehicles will be employed for off-road operations in the plains and the desert terrain along the western borders of India. The Army will use these in high-altitude mountain terrain up to 16,000 feet along the northern borders — eastern Ladakh and north Sikkim among other places.
The vehicles should be operational by day and night and in snow. Its equipment, tools and accessories should be operational in temperatures ranging from minus 15 degrees Celsius to 55 degrees Celsius.
The Army has sought that the vehicles be capable of being transported by transport aircraft – IL 76 and C 17 of the Indian Air Force and also the broad-gauge railway.
The Army is looking to have the vehicles with a capacity of carrying 8,000 kg.
The platform can be used for troop carriage, carriage of container on the flatbed, gun-towing and any other role. It is planned to be procured under the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ programmes.