Ashok Leyland’s collab with Lockheed Martin helps develop Light Bullet Proof Vehicles for Indian Air Force
Ashok Leyland has delivered Light Bullet Proof Vehicles to Indian Air Force. This was in collaboration with Lockheed Martin Chennai. The Hinduja Group flagship is reputed as the largest supplier of logistics Vehicles to the Indian Army. The new order helps it strengthen its Armoured vehicle platform. The consignment in question is the first of its kind ‘Light Bullet proof Vehicles (LBPV) delivered to the Indian Air force.
Ashok Leyland delivered its first lot of on April 13, 2021. LBPV is an adopted version of Lockheed Martin’s (LM) CVNG (Common Vehicle Next Gen). The new lot of modern vehicle were developed under TOT from LM to Ashok Leyland. This makes the vehicle group completely indigenised and developed in India.
Developed under TOT from Lockheed Martin
LBPV features 4 main characteristics that makes the vehicle type suitable for military applications. Considering the need to traverse varied territories, the vehicles are capable of high off-road mobility. This includes movement in mud, sand, rocks, and shallow water.
The LBPV will get the payload to where it needs to be irrespective of situation. With extremely high payload fraction, it can carry a of 6 persons. Add to this ample cargo space to carry substantial mission equipment. This is essential as all commissioned vehicles need to get to mission location with payload requirement.
While one doesn’t associate comfort with such vehicles, they need to be capable of outstanding ride quality and low occupant-absorbed power. This ensures that crew can make journeys driving long distances off-road, and remain an effective fighting/work force upon reaching location. Superior protection and Combat capability takes care of crew protection from both ballistics, and blast threats, and can launch attacks.
Ashok Leyland mobility solutions
Vipin Sondhi, MD & CEO, Ashok Leyland, said, “Supplying to the Armed Forces is a matter of pride for us. We are delighted to have the opportunity to be able to use our expertise in mobility in service of our nation. This LBPV is another example of our team’s capability combined with a strong sense of understanding of what is required in arduous conditions.
We are grateful to be a trusted partner of the Indian Armed Forces, and we look forward to more opportunities like this to contribute significantly towards the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative.”
Ashok Leyland has wide-ranging mobility solutions that range from 4×4 to 12×12 for defence personnel and logistics. The company has already proven its prowess as reliable partners for armed forces applications. The relationship with Lockheed Martin started in 2014 with the CVNG Program. TOT transfer gives the company the opportunity to develop many more products for India and export market on this platform.
