Belgium celebrates on the 21 July the National Day in order to commemorate independence from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. This year, among other things, logistics vehicles that are produced by the company Tatra Trucks from Kop?ivnice for the Belgian Army (Dutch: Landcomponent, French: Composante terre) in cooperation with the partner company DAF Trucks were presented for the first time. A total of six new vehicles were introduced in the logistics vehicles section. Every year, the national holiday is accompanied by massive celebrations in the Brussels Park. They traditionally include a military parade.
“The whole program of the National Day celebrations in Brussels Park was impressive and the military parade crowned it. It is a great honour for us that the new logistics vehicles on the Tatra chassis have been included in it. 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,” said directly from Brussels Kamil Koš?ál, marketing director of Tatra Trucks.
DAF Trucks was awarded the contract for the production of almost nine hundred vehicles for the Belgian Army in 2021. The chassis are manufactured in Tatra Trucks factory in Kop?ivnice, and some of the vehicles will also be equipped with a ballistic cabin developed by the company Tatra Defence Vehicle. The first deliveries of Tatra chassis, which will be retrofitted with superstructures and partly also cabins in Belgium, will take place this year and the order will be completed in 2025. DAF vehicles for the Belgian Army follows up on cooperation on the Tatra Phoenix model range. By 2025, a total of 879 logistics trucks on a Tatra chassis, with a central load-carrying tube and with independently suspended swinging half-axles, will be produced.
According to the order of the Belgian Army, 636 trucks will be produced in a 4×4 configuration, and another 243 in a four-axle 8×8 design. The unarmored cabins for most of the vehicles will be supplied by DAF Trucks, the prime contractor and final supplier of this giant order. A total of 352 vehicles will be equipped with armoured cabins developed and manufactured in the Tatra Defence Vehicle plant in Kop?ivnice. Nowadays, it is the safest cabin for the crew in the logistics vehicles category. The contract includes vehicles for the transport of containers with a hook loader, flatbeds, platform versions with hydraulic hands and one-sided tippers.
