It’s an iron machine which moves with a loud sound, carrying on regardless of whether bushes, tanks, or canals are in its way. While it can speed up to 65 kilometres per hour on the road, the amphibious vehicle can go up to 10kmph on water. The panel board allows the driver to navigate and move ahead.
The Infantry Combat Vehicle Sarath — known in Russian as Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty, or BMP — and an ambulance of the same model were exhibited at the Sarath stadium located at the Ordnance Factory Medak (OFMK) on Thursday on the occasion of the 68th Republic Day.
The OFMK exhibits some of its products like war tanks on Republic Day and Independence Day every year. And the tanks are manufactured using steel, a touch of which is enough to know how heavy these vehicles are.
OFMK is one of the 42 such units across the country. It was has expertise in Hull and Turret. It has also developed carrier vehicles for missiles like Akash, Nag, Prithvi, and Trishul.
“These tanks are used as crew carrying vehicles, and each of these can carry 10 persons,” said M. Eswara Vara Prasad, a senior technician at OFMK.
The ambulance, which is designed the same way, can carry eight injured army personnel or four seriously injured personnel on the stretchers arranged at its rear. Two of the stretchers can be folded. Inside, it is equipped with with air-conditioning and the required medicines.
“With the initiative of Bharath Singh, Senior General Manager, OFMK will shortly be getting orders for design and development of Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicles. The process is under way,” Mr. Prasad told The Hindu .
