CCPT vehicles to roll out from Medak ordnance factory today

Hyderabad: The Carrier Command Post Tracked (CCPT) vehicles designed by the Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE), DRDO, are to join the Army on October 30.

The CCPT is to roll out from the Medak ordnance factory in the presence of senior officials from the Director-General of Artillery, DRDO, DGQA and BEL. The CCPT is designed and developed for accomplishing all tactical/technical fire control functions to achieve effective deployment of self-propelled (SP) artillery guns.

It is the first of its kind with a tracked chassis, housing the Artillery Combat Command and Control System (ACCCS) for accomplishing fire control functions of all versions of artillery guns, both towed and self-propelled versions. The CCPT is a re-engineered BMP vehicle with an extended chassis and additional bogey wheels. It serves as a common platform for command post functions of all the artillery guns. To achieve the above tasks, it carries special equipment, namely, Integrated Command Control and Communication System for Artillery Tracked (i3CAT). It was developed by BEL, Bengaluru.

In 2018, OFMK received an indent for supply of 43 vehicles. In 2021, OFMK successfully manufactured two vehicles of CCPT as the first production model (FoPM) and offered to the army for trials. These vehicles proved their effectiveness on battlefield through their successful completion of extensive trials at Babina (UP) and Leh. This indicates the vehicle's capability to perform effectively in different terrains and climatic conditions.

The ordnance factory is one of the five production units of Armoured Vehicles Nigam Ltd (AVNL), which is one of the newly formed defence public sector units under the Defence Ministry. AVNL primarily manufactures armoured fighting vehicles (main battle tanks) and mine protected vehicles for the armed forces. Some of the important products of AVNL are T-90 tank, T-72 tank, BMP-II (Sarath tank) & MBT Arjun.

In a concerted effort to bolster the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, AVNL is committed to producing proven battle tanks for the army.

Besides, actively involved in the development and manufacture of new Indigenous battle tanks, tailored to meet the evolving needs of the army and the ever-changing dynamics of the battlefield. CCPT vehicle is the result of one such effort.