News

Force Motors win bid to supply ‘Light Strike Vehicles’ for the Indian Army

Ganesh Murthy

The new soldiers from Force Motors

Force Motors will be supplying their ‘Light Strike Vehicles’ for the Indian Army. The vehicles are designed and developed by the R&D team specifically considering robustness in build quality as a primary aspect. 4WD comes as standard along with differential locks on all wheels for tackling harsh off-road conditions. It gets run flat tyres and also gets mounts to arm a rocket launcher and multiple machine guns.  The ‘Light Strike Vehicles’ can be air-lifted and dropped to enemy territory too, where they can be used as fast attack vehicles.

Make In India initiative

The vehicles have been under testing and development for the past two years through punishing conditions with extreme temperatures ranging from -30°C in the freezing cold in the Himalayas to the searing hot conditions of Rajasthan where temperatures reach up to 50°C. After Force Motors’ agreement with the Ministry of Defence for the supply of the ‘Light Strike Vehicles’, a spokesperson from Force Motors said, “We are very happy that the Indian Army has reposed trust in the fully indigenous Light Strike Vehicle developed by our research and development team. This is a small but significant step in creating fully indigenous specialist vehicles for the Armed Forces – a truly ‘Make in India’ initiative”.

Many collaborations

Earlier, Force Motors had also supplied the Indian army with engines for its Howitzer guns. Currently, the manufacturer is developing engines for the latest generation ‘Dhanush Gun’, which will succeed the Howitzer guns (Bofors Guns). Force Motors makes engines for BMW and Mercedes-Benz cars in India. Recently, the company partnered with Rolls Royce Power Systems AG for their joint venture, ‘Force MTU Power Systems Pvt. Ltd.’ to produce engines in India that will be supplied for both domestic and international market. Force Motors has not revealed any images of the combat vehicle as of now.

Images of the new Light Strike Vehicles to arrive soon.