Turkey signs deal for 260 new generation anti-tank vehicles

Turkey signs deal for 260 new generation anti-tank vehicles

ISTANBUL
Turkey signs deal for 260 new generation anti-tank vehicles

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The Undersecretary of Defense Industry (SSM) has signed an agreement with Turkey FNSS Defense Systems for the local development and the production of 260 new generation anti-tank vehicles, Anadolu Agency reported June 28. 

In line with a deal signed between the parties on June 27, the anti-tank missiles, which are developed domestically for the Turkish Land Force Command’s arsenal, will be integrated into armored vehicles with anti-tank towers that will be specially designed to increase their combat capacity. 

According to a statement by the SSM, the development and the prototype qualifications of the project will be completed by 2018, and the vehicles will be delivered to the Turkish Land Force Command by 2020 as examples of “locally made and indigenously developed systems.” 

A total of 260 anti-tank systems with palettes or wheels will be procured. 

The anti-tank arms system towers that will be developed to include modern shooting and command control skills will be equipped with anti-tank missiles which are ready-to-attack, as well as 7.62-mm machine guns, according to the statement. 

FNSS, 51 percent of which is owned by Turkey’s Nurol and 49 percent by Britain’s BAE Systems, plans to manufacture the lightest member of its Kaplan carriers as a palette-based vehicle as part of the project, while the company will manufacture its PARS 4x4 vehicle as a wheeled anti-tank vehicle.