The Tata LPTA is a military truck family developed and produced by

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

n automobile manufacturer

Tata Motors Tata Motors Limited is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturing company, headquartered in Mumbai, India, which is part of the Tata Group. The company produces passenger cars, trucks, vans, coaches, buses. Formerly known as Tata En ...

. The trucks are available in 4×4,6×6,8×8,10×10 and 12×12 configurations. With extreme off-road capabilities, they are proposed as replacement for Czech-designed Tatra trucks currently used by Indian armed forces.

History

The

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four ...

is one of the biggest users of Tatra trucks in the world with over 10,000 trucks of various types in service. Because of their high-operational flexibility and functional adaptability they formed the backbone of army's tactical & mobilisation capability. These trucks were license-produced in India by

BEML BEML Limited, formerly Bharat Earth Movers Limited, is an Indian Public Sector Undertaking, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. It manufactures a variety of heavy equipment, such as that used for earth moving, railways, transport a ...

, a public sector company. Following the Tatra bribery scam, a ban was imposed on Tatra and the supply of these trucks stopped. Thus, the development of multi axle tactical trucks was started by Tata to meet Army's requirements.

Design

The vehicles have

cab over engine Cab-over, also known as cab over engine (COE), cab forward (U.S.), flat nose (Canada), or forward control (UK), is a body style of truck, bus, or van that has a vertical front, "flat face" or a semi-hood, with the cab of the truck sitting a ...

modular design. The cab can hold two crew and four passengers. There are 2 roof hatches for firing, observation and emergency exit. The trucks are equipped with a hydraulic crane for loading/unloading equipments. They also come with Central tire inflation system which inflates/deflates tyres according to terrain requirements. For driver's comfort, cab is equipped with HVAC. There is a self recovery winch in the front as well. The 6×6 and 8×8 variants are powered by a

Cummins Cummins Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and distributes engines, filtration, and power generation products. Cummins also services engines and related equipment, including fuel systems, controls, air ...

ISLe engine developing 375 horsepower while the 12×12 variant comes with a

ISXe engine with a maximum of 525 horsepower. 4×4, 6×6, 8×8 variants are mated to a 10 speed (9F+1R) manual transmission while the 12×12 variant comes with an automatic transmission.

Production

In July 2015, Tata won a contract for supplying 1,239 trucks of 6×6 variant to the

. In March 2016, an additional order for 619 more trucks was placed. The total order was worth 1300 crores making it the biggest order to a local private supplier. The 8×8 variant has been selected to be the platform for

SPYDER The SPYDER ("Surface-to-air Python and Derby") is an Israeli short and medium range mobile air defence system developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems with assistance from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). Rafael is the prime contractor an ...

Short Range Surface to Air Missiles. Tata has also proposed the 12×12 variant for

Nirbhay Nirbhay (meaning ''Dauntless/Fearless'') is a long range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile designed and developed in India by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) which is under Defence Research and Development Organisation (DR ...

missile

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and 8×8 for Pinaka MBRL. Around 15,000 trucks of 4×4 variant are also in service with Indian Army, all manufactured by the Vehicle Factory Jabalpur (VFJ).

Specifications

References

{{reflist LPTA Vehicles introduced in 2015 Military vehicles introduced in the 2010s