Heron Armored Vehicle to Strengthen Poland’s Land Forces
At the recent MSPO international trade fair in Kielce, Poland, visitors had the opportunity to see the Heron 6x6 armored wheeled vehicle. This is the new TADEAS armored vehicle developed in the Czech Republic by Tatra Defence, which will be manufactured under license in Poland (except for the Tatra chassis) by Huta Stalowa Wola (HSW) under the name Heron.
Video: MSPO Kielce 2025: MTV 6x6 Heron (TADEAS) / DEFENSE MAGAZINE
Heron is a wheeled armoured personnel carrier with a 6x6 drive, in a command vehicle version equipped with HMS C3IS Jasmin data processing and internal communications equipment. The carrier is planned to be used as a command and staff vehicle in Homar-K missile launcher divisions. In May 2024, it was tested in Polish Army exercises under the codename Field Experimentation Exercise 2024, at the Land Forces Training Center in Nowa Dęba and at the training ground in Lipa.
Heron is the result of cooperation between Huta Stalowa Wola and the Czech company Tatra Defence (TD). The basis for the transporter from HSW is the Czech design of the TADEAS 6×6 vehicle (TAtra DEfence Armoured Solution), built on the chassis of the Tatra 815-7 truck. The superstructure was designed by TDV in cooperation with HSW based on the requirements of the Polish Army, in a three-axle configuration with two steering axles: the first and the last.
It carries a crew of 2 and 11 landing troops. It accelerates on paved roads to about 110 - 120 km/h. The vehicle's empty weight is about 22 tons (depending on equipment and armor). The permissible gross weight is 30 tons, and the maximum payload is 10 tons. The driving range is about 700 km. It overcomes a slope of 70%, the angle of approach exceeds 38%, and the angle of departure 50%. It overcomes water obstacles 1.2 meters deep, vertical obstacles 0.4 meters high and ditches 1.6 meters wide. The armour provides ballistic protection level 3a/4a according to the STANAG 4569 standard, and mine protection level 4a/4b (explosion under the vehicle of 10 kg of TNT).
The drive is provided by an 8-cylinder Tatra T3-928-RE diesel engine, eighth generation with power from 300 to 370 kW, or optionally Caterpillar C9.3B engines with power of 395 or 447 kW and Cummins ISL with power of 300 kW. The engines are coupled with an automatic gearbox with six gears. A similar choice also applies to the transmission. The options include Allison 4500SP automatic, ZF Ecolife II automatic, or Traxxon automated.
