On 17 July 2026, Margalla Heavy Industries Limited (MHIL), an emerging commercial wing of Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT), unveiled its new ‘Liger’ armoured security vehicle (ASV).
The MHIL Liger is a 4×4 platform with a total weight of 7,600 kg and a payload of 2,000 kg. It can carry up to 10 personnel (i.e., 4 crew and 6 passengers). In addition to a remote weapon station (RWS) armed with a 12.7 mm gun, the Liger also has eight firing ports. It has a ballistic protection rating of B-6 and relies on a 320 hp engine, providing a top speed of 110 km/hour on level ground and 70 km/hour in all-terrain.
The Liger is the latest entry to Pakistan’s portfolio of new wheeled armoured vehicles, joining HIT’s Hisar mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicle and Faaris 6×6 armoured fighting vehicle (AFV).
MHIL markets the Liger as a tactical mobility and rapid strike vehicle. In a sense, if the Pakistan Army (PA) were to adopt the Liger, it could use it in place of pick-up trucks or even existing armoured platforms, such as the HIT Muhafiz series. However, it is unclear if the Army would adopt the Liger – or, for that matter, the other HIT/MHIL solutions, aside from the Hisar MRAP.
Despite initiating multiple tenders and tests, the Army has had difficulty in acquiring large numbers of new wheeled armoured vehicles, especially following the counterinsurgency (COIN) and counter-terrorism (CT) operations of the early-to-mid-2010s.
That said, current COIN/CT imperatives in both Balochistan and the restive areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province – formerly Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) – may drive the procurement of new wheeled armoured vehicles across each of the segments offered by MHIL or HIT.
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