In a first, the Indian Air Force is looking to give its commando squads protected mobility during operations on the lines of their counterparts in the Army. The Indian Air Force has announced interest in procuring 50-60 armoured vehicles on the lines of protected personnel carriers intended to be used by its special forces Garud units for operational tasks. The IAF has stipulated that it requires armoured vehicles that can be transported by air, capable of all terrain operations (both cross country and urban terrain) by Special Forces and easy to handle with minimum maintenance. The vehicles should be capable of carrying minimum six personnel along with their combat equipment. The request for information endorsed to global vendors describes the requirement as a highly mobile vehicle with front-side-back armoured protection from small arms, RPGs and IEDs. As is usually the case with such platforms, the IAF wants the option to use the vehicles as part of offensive units. Operating conditions of the vehicle, spares and associated accessories will of course be hot/cold/humid/ dusty/snow weather conditions, indicating a range of deployment possibilities. The IAF will keenly be looking at air transportability with its C-17 and C-130 transports, both platforms the IAF is looking to beef up in terms of numbers and capability.