US expresses interest in India’s DRDO made Mine-Protected Vehicle Aditya

US expresses interest in India’s DRDO made Mine-Protected Vehicle Aditya

New Delhi, Aug 02: The US defence department has evinced keen interest in an indigenous mine-protected vehicle that the Army is set to induct for anti-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir.

The ‘Aditya’ vehicle which was developed by DRDO and will be inducted by the Army by November to provide increased protection to troops engaged in counter-terrorism operations.

The Army has projected a requirement for 1,400 such vehicles and given the green signal to induct 300.

Official sources said the US authorities had expressed interest in the vehicle mainly due to its ability to withstand an explosion of up to 10 tonnes of TNT, far beyond the capability of any similar vehicle.

But the Americans, who are eyeing these specialised vehicles apparently to cope with increased car bomb attacks in Iraq, will have to wait.

B P Bapu, joint general manager of the ordnance factory in Medak that produces the Aditya, said the Army had ordered a large number of vehicles and the unit could not aspire for any export orders now.

Bapu said the mine-protected vehicle was displayed during Army Chief Gen J J Singh`s recent visit to the central Indian garrison town of Mhow.