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CRPF inducts hi-tech WhAP armoured vehicle in Kashmir
The CRPF has started inducting the new Wheeled Armoured Amphibious Platform (WhAP) vehicles in militancy affected south Kashmir. The 8X8 vehicles have been jointly built by TATA & DRDO and can carry 12 equipped soldiers including the driver.
The Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF) in Kashmir has received a shot in the arm to fight militancy with induction of a sophisticated vehicle which is capable of operating on land and also in marsh areas and streams using its water jets.
The central force has started inducting the new Wheeled Armoured Amphibious Platform (WhAP) vehicles in militancy affected south Kashmir. The 8X8 vehicles have been jointly built by TATA & DRDO and can carry 12 equipped soldiers including the driver. A variant of the vehicle can be mounted with a remotely operated turret over its roof.The first vehicle has reached the jawans of 110 Battalion in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.“Our efforts are to improve our operational efficiency. With the passage of time, we attempt to augment ourselves. In this regard we try to arm ourselves with new tools and equipment available and provide the best possible facility and training to our jawans and officers,” said CRPF Inspector General, Kashmir operations sector, Gyanendra Kumar Verma in a video interview in south Kashmir.
He reviewed the deployment on Saturday and did a close inspection of the newly inducted WhAP aimed to ‘strengthening our capabilities to ensure safety and security’, the CRPF said in a statement.
The CRPF has been fighting militancy along with army and police in Jammu and Kashmir for the past three decades. Besides, the police and CRPF have often been controlling law and order flare ups in the restive valley. In 2022, lowest of 17 paramilitary personnel and 14 policemen were killed in J&K in anti-insurgency operations, according to police.
Without providing the specific details of the vehicle or their number, Verma said that they would be training the jawans on the new vehicle. “The vehicle has reached here with a particular design. With all its features, the vehicle will be understood, and the forces’ personnel will be provided with training. Only then will we provide its details,” Verma said.
There are as many as 60 battalions (around 60,000 personnel) of CRPF in Kashmir valley apart from very few units of other central armed police forces (CAPFs) or central paramilitary forces. From time to time, more get inducted temporarily for events like elections or Amarnath yatra.
The CRPF is also involved in road opening duties on the Srinagar- Jammu national highway.
The vehicle, called TATA Kestrel, has the capacity to carry 12 jawans and can reach a top speed of 100 km/ hour. The 25-ton vehicle, with anti-blast seats and protection against land mines, is apt for high altitude operations and can also act amphibious by riding through water streams propelled by hydro jets on its rear on both sides.
The army was provided with WhAP last year and the central forces were provided with vehicles this year, and this is the CRPF’s first deployment of the vehicle in Kashmir.
An official of CRPF deployed in Kashmir, on condition of anonymity, said that the vehicle has different variants with CRPF and army. “The vehicle with the army is mounted with artillery which is not amphibious and was deployed in Leh. But here we are yet to get information about what variant of the vehicle it is and what are its different features,” he said.
