Tata begins armoured vehicle production in Morocco

A Tata Advanced Systems Ltd 8×8 Wheeled Armoured Platform with an improved BMP-2 turret during rehearsals for India's Republic Day parade on 23 January 2023. (Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

India's Tata Advanced Systems Ltd inaugurated its first foreign production facility in Morocco on 23 September, a year after an agreement was signed covering the local production of the company's 8×8 Wheeled Armoured Platform (WhAP).

It said the facility had been opened in Berrechid, near Casablanca, by the Indian and Moroccan defence ministers.

Morocco's official Maghreb Arabe Presse (MAP) news agency reported that the Tata Advanced Systems Maroc (TASM) factory is in Berrechid's industrial zone and has begun production of the WhAP for the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces (FAR) and potential foreign orders. It added that the plant will act as a catalyst for a defence industrial ecosystem, with its use of local components increasing from an initial 35% to 50%.

The contract to produce the WhAP in Morocco was announced on 30 September 2024. While the numbers involved have not been officially confirmed, at the time, India's Business Standard newspaper cited defence officials as saying 150 WhAPs would be built for Morocco over a three-year period.

Previously called the Kestrel, the WhAP was developed with the Indian Ministry of Defence's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the Indian Army, which calls it the Infantry Protected Mobility Vehicle (IPMV). It is also in service with the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force.

For more information, please see Defexpo 2022: DRDO showcases 8×8 Wheeled Armoured Platform .