Infantry fighting vehicles have occupied an important role in military operations since World War I. At the tough terrains of LAC, Indian needs light, fast armored mobility to better itself than the Chinese counterpart. It needs to strike quick & hard and move. This is where the need to Armored Fighting vehicle is felt the most. At present Indian Army is operating the Soviet Era BMPs and APCs which are in need of desperate replacement with the changing battle scenario. This is where the TATA Kestrel or WhAP(Wheeled Armoured Platform) proves to be vital. Indian Army needs close to 2000 such vehicle to replace its fleet of BMPs. Armored Fighting Vehicles are often mistaken for tanks. Though they are armed but not as heavy as a main battle tank and weighs almost of half the later. Their primary role is to provide protection and transportation for mechanized infantry —and then offer copious fire support once the infantry has dismounted into cover. Due to their less weight, they can be easily airlifted by transport aircrafts and have faster speed and mobility on tough terrains and roads where the fully loaded main battle tanks weighing over 60 tons cannot. Another important aspect is the maintenance. While the Main battle tanks usually requires maintenance and logistics support after close to 500KM run, the Armored Fighting vehicles require minimum to no maintenance even after 1000KM of run improving their availability. APVs are silent and swift like Ninja and Tanks are the like the power punch of a heavy weight boxer. The TATA Kestrel or WhAP(Wheeled Armoured Platform) is a modern armoured amphibious personnel carrier family designed in a collaboration of TATA, DRDO, and a UK based defence firm, Supacat. It is a versatile vehicle and can traverse a variety of terrains, be outfitted for multiple missions and also serve non-combat roles like that of an ambulance or VIP transport. It will be much, cheaper when compared with a main-battle tank and can be mass-manufactured given the expertise Tata has in automobile sector. Kestrel is an 8×8 wheeled platform, meaning 8-wheel drive, which is two four-wheel-drives glued together, to provide maximum mobility in tough terrains It weighs close to 25 Tonnes and has Length of 7.80m, Width 2.95m and Height 2.28 m. It has a max Speed of 100 KM/H on-road and 10 KM/H in water. It has a capacity of carrying a total of 10 soldiers, 6 in the back seat, 2 in the turret (commander and gunner), and 2 in the driving seat. The seats are supposedly more comfortable than what soldiers were used to in the BMP-2 and BTR series of armoured vehicles. If we want to analyze any armored vehicle the three best parameters are its: Mobility, Protection & Firepower. Kestrel is powered by Cummins ISX 600 engine which also includes cooling and a dilatation system which increases the efficiency of the vehicle. It comes with a reliability rating of over 10 lakh kilometers. The 8X8 wheel configuration is set on a hydropneumatic suspension utilizing a double-wishbone arrangement. All wheels are equipped with a “run-flat” capability to allow the vehicle to move even after suffering from multiple punctures. The two front wheels are steerable, and all eight wheels are of a run-flat type that can be centrally inflated or deflated, like in a modern luxury SUV. For rough terrains, the tires can be deflated, but for highway operation, they can be pumped up to normal levels of air pressure. The vehicle has four axles, the front axle is steerable which reduces the turning radius of the vehicle significantly. The vehicle is amphibious up to 24 tons and in addition, a reserved buoyancy of 15% has been catered for in the design. Hydro-jets in the rear helps in propulsion in the water at a speed of 10KM/H. It follows a modular design which gives it flexibility to have any turret.
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