Israeli partner sues local vehicle maker

İZMİR - Doğan News Agency

The defense ministry awaits delivery of kirpis BMC should have delivered. DHA photo

BMC, the maker of Turkey’s Kirpi brand armored carriers, has been sued by the Israeli firm Hatehof Industries, which has been producing armor and capsules for Kirpis, over the Turkish company’s failure to pay its debts.

“Even though the Turkish National Defense Ministry has paid the price for the delivered vehicles to BMC, the firm didn’t pay its debts to Hatehof,” the lawyer for the Israeli firm, Aydın Buğra İlter, said in a written statement.

BMC signed a deal in 2009 to produce 468 Kirpis and trucks in a range of sizes to be delivered by the end of 2012, but the company has been unable to deliver the vehicles due to its financial problems.

The Turkish Defense Industry Undersecretariat has given BMC a one-month deadline to deliver the 175 Kirpis and 105 trucks that the company has failed to deliver.