First of Almost 900 Vehicles Due by 2025
At the traditional Belgian National Day festivities on 21 July, the Belgian Army highlighted a number of recently-received logistics vehicles on Tatra Trucks chassis.
Produced by Tatra in partnership with DAF trucks, the six new logistics vehicles fall under the 2021 contract signed with DAF for almost 900 vehicles of varying descriptions. Manufactured at the Tatra Trucks facility in Kopřivnice, most superstructures and cabins will be fitted in Belgium, and the order covers variants featuring hook loaders, flatbeds, hydraulic manipulators and one-sided tip-trucks.
The vehicles are based on the Tatra Phoenix model range. By 2025, a total of 879 logistics trucks (636 in 4×4 configuration, 234 in 8×8) on a Tatra chassis, with a central load-carrying tube and with independently suspended swinging half-axles, will be produced. The unarmored cabins for most will be supplied by DAF Trucks as prime contractor and final supplier, but some 352 vehicles will feature armoured cabins developed and manufactured in the Tatra Defence Vehicle – currently the safest crew cabin available in the logistics vehicles category.
“Thanks to the cooperation with DAF Trucks, whose cabins and engines are used for our Tatra Phoenix model range, we were able to enter the demanding Belgian market. We believe that this large order will be a great reference for Tatra and it will open the door into other armies with high demands on the driving characteristics of the vehicle and the protection of the crew,” commented Marketing Director, Kamil Košťál.
“In our company Tatra Defence Vehicle, we have completely developed cabins with ballistic and mine protection [to] Level 3 according to the STANAG standard for this order. The product proves that our company is not only a manufacturer of special equipment, but we also have a very strong development and design bureau. We have also demonstrated this in [the] Pandur II and TITUS projects. The production of ballistic cabins for the Belgian Army is a very valuable reference for us with regard to other potential orders,” added Tomáš Mohapl, Director of Tatra Defence Vehicle.
