Indian Army’s Quest For Cutting-Edge ARVs To Retrieve Damaged Tanks And Vehicles

The Indian Army has started to buy 170 tracked Armoured Recovery Vehicles (ARVs) that can get broken tanks and other vehicles off the battlefield.

These ARVs should be able to work on different types of land, such as plains, semi-deserts, deserts, high altitudes, and mountainous places.

On Tuesday, September 5, the Army sent an RFI (Request for Information) to Indian suppliers about buying these cars.

When tanks or other large pieces of equipment break down during operations, these trucks are needed to get them back up and running. At the moment, the Army uses WZT-3 ARVs made by BEML. These are based on the hulls of Russian T-72 tanks.

In answer to the RFI, Indian companies like the Kalyani Group, Mahindra, Tata, and L&T, as well as BEML, which is run by the government, are likely to take part.

Since the Army works in many different kinds of landscapes, the ARVs need to be able to work well in a variety of settings.

There are plains, semi-deserts, and deserts along the western borders, as well as high altitude and hilly areas like eastern Ladakh, the central sector, and North Sikkim.

The Army has said that the ARVs should be able to work both during the day and at night, as well as in snowy, rainy, dusty, and sandy circumstances.

In mountainous and high-altitude areas, the ARVs must be able to handle temps as low as -20° to -10° Celsius and as high as 40° Celsius.

Also, the ARV’s engine should be able to start even when it’s very cold outside.

It should also be able to take things like a crane, dozer, winches, general tools, special maintenance tools, and other things that are needed for repair and recovery work.

It should also be able to be moved by tank transporter vehicles, IAF transport planes, and military bogeys on broad-gauge trains.

The truck will have a Remote Controlled Weapon Station (RCWS) with a 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine gun and a smoke grenade launcher for self-defense.