Article Posted on : - Mar 23, 2010

The Tatra 8X8 tank transporter vehicle.

NEW DELHI (BNS): The Defence Ministry has awarded public sector company Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML) a Rs. 632 crore contract to supply TATRA all-terrain vehicles to the Indian Army.

Under the contract, BEML will provide a total of 788 TATRA vehicles to the Army within a period of 18 months, the company said.

The Army will get three variants of the vehicles – 8x8 TATRAS numbering 498, 6x6 TATRAS with winch numbering 278 and 6x6 without winch numbering 12.

BEML has already received 50% of the total contract amount from the MoD, it said.

The TATRA heavy vehicles have been designed to meet various operational requirements of the armed forces.

The TATRA 8x8 is a multi-terrain vehicle used for both tank and personnel transportation. The 6x6 TATRA is a high mobility vehicle used for ground support role of the Army. The winch is fitted in the vehicles to help them in self recovery and recovery of other vehicles.

Each TATRA vehicle can carry payloads upto 8000-kg.