Initial research into producing a "Blast Protected Vehicle" armoured personnel carrier was led by then Major Jayantha de Silva, who was concerned by the destruction and use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) that the Tamil rebels began using on military troop transport vehicles.

[2] These IEDs became rampant in the north and eastern provinces with the escalation of the Sri Lankan Civil War.

The research led to the production of vehicles based on a TATA commercial truck chassis with a strong metal hull about two metres from ground level in 1983, which was known under the name Yaka.

[3][2] It resulted in the backing of then-Minister for National Security, Hon Lalith Athulathmudali, who co-opted all engineering firms in Sri Lanka to build the vehicles to the specifications drafted by Major de Silva.

According to soldiers in the battlefield, this feature made communication among the two sections easier than that in a Buffel where the driver was separated from the passengers.