TATA's (LPTA 5252) 12X12 multi-axle truck

When the Prime Minister said to go ‘vocal for local’, he also meant that products be made competitive vis-a-vis global brands. Tata Motors – India’s leading auto brand – seems to have solidified the brand’s stance for the ‘Vocal for Local’ initiative, by manufacturing high-end military support vehicles not just for the country, but one that fits the purpose of international defence deals. 

More recently, the Thai ambassador to India lauded India’s Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative by announces the purchase of 600 Tata motors military trucks.

Chutintorn Sam Gongsakdi tweeted saying, ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat: The Royal Thai Army is in the process of completing its purchase of over 600 TATA LPTA military trucks…They are rugged & easy to maintain. Fit for purpose. Fit for service of the nation’.

According to Motoroids report, Tata Motors has been a prime defence supplier to the Armed and Paramilitary Forces of the country for a long time now. The Group’s history with the Defence sector goes way back to the 1940s.

Apart from being a leading supplier of mobility solutions to the Indian Army, Navy, Air Force and various Paramilitary forces, the company also exports its range of specialized Defence vehicles to SAARC, ASEAN, African nations and the UN peacekeeping forces in conflict zones in Africa. 

Chutintorn Sam Gongsakdi, in his tweet about the military purchase, ended up making an error of posting the Flag of Niger instead of India to indicate the deal. After people online pointed out that he used the wrong flag, Sam Gongsakdi, immediately posted an apology saying ‘Sorry. It is so small, I thought the detail was lacking. I actually checked before choosing’.

TATA Motors, India’s largest vehicle manufacturer by revenue, is readying a range of sophisticated combat, tactical, logistical and armoured vehicles including high-end missile launchers for the Indian defence forces. 

V S Noronha – vice-president (defence and government business), TATA Motors – told Business Standard earlier this year, “Tata Motors has been very proactive in the defence segment, so it is not that we wait for the order. We knew that somewhere down the line, there would be a better focus on indigenisation and keeping that in mind, we went ahead and developed the (LPTA 5252) 12X12. They are the military versions of the Prima truck.” 

TATA Motors’s product line-up includes bullet-proof troop carriers, armoured buses, mine protected vehicles, mobile hospital, water bowser and even unmanned aerial vehicle launchers, among other things.