Turkey's FNSS to Produce 260 Anti-Tank Vehicles

FNSS has been awarded a contract for the production of 260 anti-tank vehicles for the Turkish Army.

Of the vehicles, 184 will be tracked and the remaining 76 will be wheeled. FNSS plans to use the lightest member of the Kaplan vehicle family as the platform for the tracked vehicle, and the PARS 4x4 design as the basis for the project's wheeled vehicle.

FNSS refers to the project as the anti-tank vehicle project, although the Turkish defence procurement agency (SSM) calls it the weapons carrier vehicle project. The SSM has declined to give the estimated cost of the project.

Under the contract, design development and prototype qualification is to be completed in 2018. Serial production will then begin, with all 260 vehicles to be delivered to the Turkish Army by 2020.

Both the tracked and wheeled vehicle will be armed with the locally-developed Roketsan OMTAS medium range anti-tank missile. OMTAS is infrared guided, has a range of 4 km and has lock on before launch, lock on after launch, fire and forget, and man in the loop firing modes. Both the tracked and wheeled vehicles will be fitted with an unmanned turret carrying four OMTAS missiles and a 7.62x51 mm machine gun.

Both vehicles are amphibious and are designed to have a modular mechanical and electronic architecture to allow them to be rapidly modified in the future.

Turkey is planning to use the vehicles to enhance the combat capabilities of its existing and new anti-tank units. The vehicles are intended to work as dedicated tank killers, specifically to deter possible threats against Turkey from the region.

BAE Systems holds a 49% stake in FNSS.

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