FNSS & PT PINDAD ready to produce Medium Tank...

Thanks to Jonathan for the link!

via Shepard Media.

Turkish company FNSS will display its medium tank at Indo Defence 2018 as the company announced the vehicle is now ready for serial production.

FNSS has partnered with Indonesia’s PT Pindad to develop and manufacture the tank which was showcased, albeit in model form, at Indo Defence 2016. The tank will meet the Indonesian Army’s requirement for a new medium-weight class tank.

Qualification testing has been conducted in Indonesia and were conducted during the summer this year.

The qualification tests were conducted in three phases, comprising mine tests, endurance tests and firing tests. The mine tests, conducted with a mine prototype mock-up in the first phase, were completed successfully in July.

In a statement released on 31 October 2018, Nail Kurt, CEO of FNSS Defence Systems said, ‘The vehicle has low weight and silhouette, while making no concession in performance in terms of ballistic or mine protection.

‘Our target was to have Medium Tank offer the highest ballistic and mine protection in its class, and following the successful completion of the challenging qualification tests, we are delighted to see that we have achieved our goal.’

The gun turret, a 105mm system, will be provided by Belgian company CMI Defence. The subsystems and sensors are defined by Indonesia and PT Pindad.

As part of the new tank FNSS will provide its Kaplan armoured fighting vehicle chassis which has been developed for Turkey’s anti-tank weapon carrying vehicle programme.

In 2016 Shephard reported on the concept vehicle which was set to be 7m long and 3.2m wide and an overall height of 2.7m.

The company will also be showcasing its Marine Assault Vehicle which is being developed by FNSS to meet an amphibious armoured vehicle requirement of the Turkish Navy, as per an agreement signed in 2017.

Under the Marine Assault Vehicle Project of the Presidency of Defence Industries in Turkey, FNSS will deliver a total of 27 vehicles, including 23 personnel carriers, two command control vehicles and two recovery vehicles.

Two things.

FNSS and the Indonesians have done one thing that can't be denied with this vehicle.

They moved fast.

We heard about its development and now its about to enter production.  We need to learn that lesson.  We have to get faster.

Second.

Did you see the highlighted portion about the Turk AAV?  Again they're moving fast but the numbers are curious.  My guess?  This is aimed mostly at the export market.  Some will desire new vehicles instead of rebuilds and this Turk vehicle will slide in nicely.  If they can make the price lower than the BAE ACV then it should be a winner especially for smaller countries with Marine forces.