The Mahindra Marksman is the first Indian light armored vehicle integrating a completely armored hull. The vehicle is manufactured by Mahindra and is currently in service with Indian police, CISF, CRPF and Chilean Police.
Mahindra is known as a manufacturer of tractors, trucks and SUVs, and now it also deals with military products. The chassis of the civilian car Mahindra Scorpio was probably used as the chassis. The Mahindra Marksman armored car is designed for patrolling, guarding convoys, raids, riot control, special operations, and organizing checkpoints.
Mahinda Marksman armored vehicle has been produced since 2009, and has been in service with the police since 2010. The total number of vehicles of this type assembled to date is about 800. Mahindra Marksman is the first Indian model of armored vehicles of the monocoque type (i.e., the outer hull is the main bearing element).
Protection
Armoured to Level B6, Mahindra Marksman is equipped with a machine gun mount, five side armouring of the passenger compartment along with roof and verticals, seven firing crew ports, a rear-view camera, and an LCD screen.
Its armor protects against bullets of 5.56 and 7.62 mm caliber. The bottom of the car can withstand the explosion of two hand grenades at the same time. The Mahindra Marksman is also equipped with a ballistic steel internal frame for added protection. Also, additional crew protection is provided by storage compartment located near the tailgate.
It can be equipped with a turret machine-gun mount on top, rotating within 270 ° or it can be equipped with remote weapon system. In addition to a crew of two, the armored car can carry four fighters. One of the seats in the troop compartment is deployed to the rear door, which makes it possible for the soldier sitting there to open the door if necessary and give a turn. In this way, an almost circular shelling is ensured. It can be said that a tower with a circular rotation machine gun would be better, but there is an alternative approach: the Israelis install several machine guns on their equipment in order to be able to simultaneously fire in different directions. Therefore, the solution implemented on the Indian armored car has the right to exist.
Mahindra Marksman is equipped with 2.6 Litre, turbo charged intercooled DI engine and can produce 115bhp at 3800rpm. It has a top speed of 120 km/h. The weight of the armored vehicle is reported to be 3.2 tons. The wheel arrangement is 4 * 4. The armored car is equipped with a video camera showing what is happening in the dead zone behind the car. It is possible to install an air conditioner, which is useful in the hot climate of India, and various additional equipment, such as loudspeakers.
In addition to the police and SWAT unit of India, the Mahindra Marksman armored vehicles are in service with the Chilean carabinieri. The Chileans, however, were dissatisfied with the car: the visibility from the armored car was poor, and the vehicle’s cross-country ability on rough terrain was unsatisfactory. But you can’t get a better Armour vehicle at this price, The price of Marksman between INR25 to INR40 lakhs depending on the customizations.
If we compare the Mahindra Marksman with other vehicles capable of solving police tasks, for example, the Turkish “Cobra” or the Russian “Tiger”, then the “Cobra” carries larger troops (8 people), the Russian car has this figure 6. “Tiger” is faster (up to 140 km/h) due to the use of more powerful engines (150 hp on average). The Turkish vehicle provides mine protection, unlike the Marksman. therefore, it is difficult to call the Indian armored car a technological breakthrough. On the other hand, if we consider it as the first pancake in the mass production of police armored vehicles, then Mahindra Marksman does not look so bad. It’s better to go to the operation on it than on a Mahindra Bolero.