MotorBash brings to you, exclusive spyshots of a military-specific vehicle from one of India’s homegrown manufacturers. We bet this vehicle will strike awe in the hearts of our readers, and fear in the hearts of India’s opponents.
There’s no denying the fact that India is surrounded by an explosive and dangerous wall of neighbouring countries. To our north-west we have the so-called Non-State Actors ready to infiltrate our border at a moment’s notice. To our north, we have an iron-fisted communist nation rapidly becoming more assertive in its strides in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).
To our east, we have a country that can spontaneously combust itself over a water-sharing pact. Oh, we also have a nation of Generals in the same direction who exploit the vast reserves of Jade to fuel their expensive lifestyles!! And to our south, we have a nation whose internal strife was captured very beautifully in a movie starring the Biker-boy-of-Bollywood.
To protect our porous borders ranging from Sir Creek in Gujarat to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh with a Kargil and a Siachen tucked in somewhere in between, our jawans need a rough, tough, hardy and reliable set of wheels. One that would not cower in the face of incoming enemy fire.
One whose engines would not stall even in the steepest of inclines. One that would have a footprint massive enough to stride over the pockmarked landscape of battle, ridden with craters and dead bodies alike. One that would be reliable enough to not betray a soldier in that defining moment.
For years, we have been spoon-fed to the idea of Indian Army relying on Willys’ derived Mahindra Jeep and more recently, the Maruti-Suzuki Gypsy. We are even forced to bear images of ponies hauling arms and ammunition on mountainous routes (During the 1971 war), year after year repeatedly on Independence day!! 😉
Now it seems the Indian Army has, or rather is about to, receive a vehicle that will be an ideal comrade in hostile situations. We spied a Tata Vehicle on test in Pune yesterday. It was insanely “B-I-G” and was astride on equally massive tyres. It had a wide enough footprint and a ground clearance that would put the best of Off-roaders to shame!! Though we aren’t aware of the engine options, we could see that the interiors were spartan, and that equipment levels will be next to nil. But then, do our jawans tune in to music on the battllefield??
Needless to say, we liked it. On seeing it, patriotic feelings gushed inside us.
That even after lots of scams and kickbacks ( Remember Quattrochi?? ), one Indian manufacturer has finally taken up cudgels to arm our guardians with the necessary equipment that they deserve. Yes, Tata is no stranger to the world of strategic and tactical defence. The company is working on a program to arm our infantry soldiers with a next-generation rifle called the F-INSAS. Its Safari vehicle is used by DRDO as mobile radio-jammer units, after being retrofitted with the necessary equipment.
How many of you heard Jai-Hind ring inside your minds?? 😉
