Indian Tata Launches Plant in Morocco to Produce WhAP Wheeled Infantry Fighting Vehicles

The Indian company Tata Advanced Systems Ltd. has opened a plant near Casablanca to assemble WhAP wheeled infantry fighting vehicles for Morocco.

DefenseWeb reported on the project.

The facility at Berrechid, located near Casablanca, was inaugurated on Wednesday, September 23, in a ceremony attended by the Moroccan and Indian defense ministers, as well as other officials.

At the new Tata Advanced Systems Maroc (TASM) plant, which covers 20,000 square meters, production of WhAP vehicles has started for Morocco’s Royal Armoured Forces and for potential export customers.

Initially, the plant sources about 35% of components from local suppliers, a figure Tata plans to raise to 50%.

Deliveries of the first WhAP vehicles to the Moroccan armed forces are already underway.

Tata reported that the facility started operations three months ahead of schedule. It is Morocco’s largest defense industrial facility and the first in Africa built by an Indian private company.

The plant opening followed a bilateral defence trade agreement between India and Morocco, signed on June 22.

In spring 2024, Tata signed a contract with Morocco’s National Defence Administration for local production of the WhAP. The deal, announced in March, covered 150 Indian wheeled combat vehicles — the largest export order for Indian armoured vehicles to date.

WhAP

The WhAP, an 8×8 wheeled platform, was designed to be adaptable for multiple roles: armored personnel carrier, infantry fighting vehicle, light tank with a 105 mm gun, command vehicle, ambulance, and a 120 mm self-propelled mortar.

The vehicle can be fitted with modular add-on armour and typically mounts weapons up to a 14.5 mm machine gun in some configurations.

In its basic configuration, the vehicle is intended primarily for small-arms protection.

The hull floor is reinforced for mine protection, and seats are blast-attenuating. The manufacturer claims that the vehicle can withstand the blast effect of an 8 kg TNT anti-tank mine.