Why do Military Vehicles have Unique Number Plates?

Every defense aspirant would have dreamt of driving a military vehicles. These military vehicles are very different from our normal vehicles. Their size, strength, color, and even their number plates are also different from our civilian vehicles. Have you ever wondered why they have such peculiar vehicle serial number plates – which are a combination of numbers, alphabets, and even symbols? These military vehicles also have some extra privileges compared to other vehicles. In this article, we will decode the numbering system of military vehicles and they use this type of number plate. Later in the article, we will also understand who can use these special types of vehicles.

Why does every motorized vehicle require a number plate?

As per the Motor Vehicle Act of 1988, it is mandatory that every motorized vehicle, which runs on a road, must be recorded at a registering authority. This registering authority gives a unique registration number plate to the vehicle that has to be displayed on the vehicle on both sides from where it should be clearly visible. The authority also specifies the Fonts, the color – both the background and the letters and the sequence or coding of the letters/numbers.

Under this law, you cannot use an unregistered vehicle in any public place.

The main reason behind this provision is linked to the safety of the common people. Suppose, a person commits a crime or purposefully does an accident by any vehicle that doesn’t have any registration number, then it will become a herculean task for the police forces to trace out the vehicle or the offender.

Therefore, it is not only in the interest of the common people but also for the betterment of the country as a whole.

This registration number or number plate becomes a unique identification of the vehicle for other documents and insurance purposes.

Some special types of Number plates are allotted with a specific purpose

For all motor vehicles except the Military Vehicles and Consulate/Diplomat vehicles, the Regional Transport Office commonly known as RTO is the registering authority. The RTO of the district is the main authority for all motor vehicle-related matters of that district. After the documentation and registration of your vehicle at the regional transport office, they provide a unique alphanumerical registration ID for your vehicle. This registration ID becomes the number plate of your vehicle.

There are different number plates with different background colors and font colors. This color coding has a specific reason. They are as below

White Number Plate with Black Font

• Used for all types of private or non-commercial vehicles (two-wheelers and four-wheelers).
• Vehicles used for personal or private use

Yellow Number Plate with Black Font

• All commercial vehicles
• The driver of such a number plate vehicle should also have a commercial vehicle driving license

Black Number Plate with Yellow Font

• All Self driven or rental vehicles.
• They are registered as commercial vehicles, but the driver doesn’t require a commercial license

Green Number Plate with White/Yellow Fonts

• All green-colored number plates are exclusively used for Electrical Vehicle
• The Fonts can be Yellow or white depending upon the vehicle type.
• Yellow fonts will be for commercial vehicles & White fonts will be used for personal or private vehicle

Red Number plate with white fonts

• It is used for a temporary registration number – which can be used till you get the permanent registration number as its validity is for 1 month

Blue Number plate with white fonts

• Vehicle reserved for foreign diplomats or officials
• They display the country code of the diplomat

Plain Red Number Plate with or without National Emblem

• Plain Red Number plate – used by the governor of the state
• Plain Red with golden national emblem – President of India

Black/Green Number Plate with white fonts having an upward arrow

• Military vehicles

Why does Military Vehicles have different number plates?

As discussed earlier, Military vehicles are not registered with any RTO or the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. These vehicles are registered under the Ministry of Defence. So, they have their separate Identification system and Number plate codification procedure.

Another reason for having a different number plate is that it can be identified or differentiated easily from other commercial vehicles. This also indicates that the vehicle is government property and not personal or private. This is done because these are vehicles of national importance and enjoy certain privileges compared to other vehicles. These vehicles can enter restricted areas also.

Further, these vehicles are not restricted to any specific state or city. They move with their regiment from one state to another if there is any movement of the regiment. Thus, they have unique number plates which common to the entire nation. This eliminates the transfer documentation and formalities that in some cases might delay the transportation process.

Thus, military vehicles have different number plates and registries compared to other vehicles.

Decoding Military Vehicles number plates

• A Military Number Plate starts with an upward pointing arrow, which is called a Broad Arrow. This arrow prevents the number from reading correctly and reading upside down.
• This method of using Broad Arrow in military vehicles was started by the British Royal Military which was adopted by the Indian military after independence.
• This broad arrow is followed by two numbers. These are the last two digits of the year in which the vehicle was manufactured or inducted into the forces. 
• An Alphabet comes after these digits, which specify the type of that vehicle.
  1. A – 2-wheel vehicle
  2. B – 4-wheel vehicle
  3. C – LMV or Light Motor Vehicle, up to 1 or 2.5 Tonnes
  4. D – Trucks capable of carrying 3 to 5 Tonnes load
  5. E – Special purpose trucks, cranes, or any such type of vehicle
  6. P – Military Bus
  7. K – Medical Vehicles like Ambulance
  8. X – Armour Vehicle
• After this, you will find 6 digits – the actual registration number of that vehicle.
• The last alphabet is the check code.

Who are the star officers of the Defence forces?

In the case of Military Cars, you can also find stars above the number plates. These starts also have their meaning, as only star officers can have these on their vehicles. Military officers having the rank of Brigadiers in the army, Air Commodore in Airforce, and Commodore in Navy and above this rank can have these stars on their vehicle.

• Five Star Officers – People having honorary Ranks of the Field Marshal in the Army or Marshal of the Airforce in the Airforce or Admiral of the fleet in the Navy are called five stars officers. They have five stars above their number plate on their vehicle.

• Four Star Officers – All the chiefs of the military – The General, The Admiral, and The Air Chief Marshal are called four-star officers and have 4 stars above their number plate. They also have a rectangular Indian flag inscribed under their respective forces flag i.e Army, Navy, Air Force.
• Three Star Officers – Officers having the Second highest rank i.e the Lt. General in the Army, the Vice Admiral of the Navy, and the Air Marshal of the Airforce have 3 stars on the number plate. They also have a full rectangular flag on their vehicles.
• Two Star Officers – Officers of the rank of the Major General in the Army, the Rear Admiral in the Navy, and the Air Vice-Marshal in the Airforce have 2 stars above their number plate. They also have a dual-tipped flag on their vehicles.
• One Star Officer – The Brigadier of the Army, The Commodore of the Navy, and The Air Commodore of the Navy have 1 star above their number plate along with a triangular flag on their vehicles.

Hope this article would have helped you in understanding why vehicles use different number plates and their meaning. You can mention your queries in the comment section.

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