NBC Reconnaissance Vehicle
The NBC reconnaissance vehicle (NBCRV) has been developed by Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (VRDE), Ahmednagar in collaboration with Research and Development Establishment, Pune and three other DRDOlabs.
The tracked NBC reconnaissance vehicle, based on the amphibious "Sarath" ("Chariot of Victory") Indian license-produced variant of BMP-2, is equipped to enter any kind of hostile terrain including water hazards to bring back samples from the contaminated area to a mobile laboratory for analysis. The NBC reconnaissance vehicle is designed to diagnose the existence of life endangering nuclear, biological and chemical contaminants in the atmosphere during NBC warfare and cordon off such areas and transmits the vital information to the support formation from within the confines of the vehicle. It is a self-contained vehicle fitted with a robotic arm to scoop out soil and other samples and record air samples. It function in a ‘hood down’ sealed mode to ensure crew safety from nuclear radiation, chemical attacks and biological agents. Once the vehicle returns from the contaminated area, the samples can be transferred to a mobile laboratory (already developed by DRDO) to analyse the ‘threat level’.
Deployment
The vehicle has undergone ‘ phases of successful user trials.’ Army has accepted the vehicle after implementation of modifications as suggested by them, and has placed limited serial production (LSP) order for eight vehicles. Defence Laboratory, Jodhpur, is the nodal agency for execution of the LSP order and Ordnance Factory Project, Medak, is the production agency.
Equipment
The vehicle is equipped with the following instruments/devices:
- Nuclear reconnaissance instruments such as roentgenometer, portable dosimeter, portable dose rate meter, and
- meteorological sensors.
- Remote controlled sample collecting device.
- Chemical recce instruments like chemical agent monitor, gas chromatograph, residual vapour detection kit.
- Portable decontamination apparatus and NBC suits.
- Data acquisition system.
- Differential global positioning system.
- Picket driving system for marking of contaminated areas.