New light armored vehicle debuts at Africa's top defense show

Paramount and India’s Kalyani Strategic Systems Limited unveiled a new 4×4 light armored modular vehicle (LAMV) called the Mbada at the Africa Aerospace and Defence exhibition in Pretoria on Sept. 17, marking the vehicle’s first public showing at an international defense show.

The Mbada is built as a modular platform that customers can configure for reconnaissance, border protection, troop transport, logistics runs, command and control, surveillance, or weapons carriage, among other roles. Paramount and KSSL, the defense arm of India’s Bharat Forge, jointly developed the vehicle from the start rather than adapting an existing design, and the companies are targeting militaries across Africa, India and South Asia. The vehicle isn’t entirely new to the public: it debuted at Eurosatory 2026 in Paris in June under the name Simha, the version aimed at Indian and other global markets, with Mbada serving as the name for Africa and additional international customers.

At roughly 10 tonnes, the Mbada runs on a 450-horsepower, six-cylinder turbo-diesel engine producing 1,627 newton-meters of torque, paired with a six-speed automatic transmission and a two-speed transfer case that can lock for off-road driving. It reaches a top road speed of 110 km/h (68 mph). The vehicle’s fully welded hull, built as a single monocoque structure rather than a frame with separate armor panels, meets STANAG 4569 Level 1 and Level 2 ballistic protection standards and Level 2a and 2b blast protection, a NATO classification system for how much explosive force a vehicle’s armor can withstand. Paramount says the hull can survive a 6-kilogram (13-pound) TNT-equivalent mine detonating beneath a wheel or the hull itself.

The Mbada carries a crew of four, a driver, commander and two additional crew members, with four side doors and a turret ring for mounting a weapon station. It comes in left- and right-hand-drive configurations and can operate from -20°C to 45°C (-4°F to 113°F) without special preparation. Customers can add extras including a remote weapon mount, communications and C4I equipment, a central tire inflation system, run-flat tires, shooting ports, a winch, a wading snorkel and FLIR night-driving cameras.

“As military forces across Africa and around the world adapt to increasingly complex, dispersed and unpredictable operational environments, demand is growing for lighter and more agile armoured vehicles that combine mobility and survivability with the flexibility to rapidly integrate new technologies, weapons and mission systems,” said Lindiwe Tshabalala, CEO of Paramount South Africa.

“By combining KSSL’s advanced engineering and manufacturing strengths with Paramount’s proven expertise in protected mobility, we have created a versatile and future-ready platform designed to meet the evolving operational requirements of modern armed forces,” said Neelesh Tungar, CEO of Kalyani Strategic Systems Limited.

KSSL has been expanding its defense manufacturing footprint beyond the Mbada program. The company also showed a 155mm, 39-caliber truck-mounted howitzer called the MArG 39 at Eurosatory in June, part of a planned family of artillery systems built on a shared 4×4 chassis. Paramount and KSSL have positioned both the vehicle and artillery lines around sovereign production, an arrangement that lets a buying country manufacture and maintain the equipment domestically rather than depend on continued foreign supply.

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