A new anti-tank variant of the Tulpar family of tracked armoured vehicles from Otokar is being shown at the IDEF exhibition in Istanbul for the first time.

The Tulpar-S has been developed by the company for the Turkish Weapon Carrying Vehicle (WCV) programme and is fitted with a new RWS from Aselsan that carries four Kornet anti-tank missiles as well as a machine gun.

Oguz Korkut Kibaroglu, tank system engineering manager at Otokar, told Shephard that Tupar-S weighs 15t, but can be increased to 18t. The amphibious tank hunting platform has level 4 armour and can be made available in APC, IFV and other modes, as well as carry different weapon systems.

He said that the Turkish procurement agency SSM is in the bidding phase for the army’s WCV programme and that Otokar has started engineering tests on its WCV platform in order to be ready for it.

Kibaroglu said that there are similar components in the Tuplar and Tuplar-S, and this level of commonality means that it is faster to approve the overall system for when the SSM begins its own qualification tests.

Tulpar-S is 2.9m wide, 5.7m long and has a crew capacity of ten. It is equipped with a 280kW engine and can achieve a maximum speed of about 70km/h. CBRN life support is standard, as well as mine-resistant crew seats and driver front and rear thermal and day cameras.

The original Tulpar multipurpose platform, which ranges from 25t-45t, was launched at IDEF in 2013. Otokar is showing an updated variant this year fitted with the Mizrak-30 medium-calibre remote-controlled turret with 30mm dual-feed automatic cannon with 210 ready rounds.

The vehicle on show is 32t and measures 7.23m long and 3.45m wide. It also has a new MTU 8V199 turbo-charged diesel engine, producing 720hp, and Renk HSWL 106 hydromechanical transmission, which replaces the earlier Scania engine and Sapa mechanical transmission. It is fitted with the HA35-15000 indigenous designed final drive system from Otokar.

Kibaroglu told Shephard that the Turkish military likes German engines – they are also being introduced as part of the M60 tank modification and are used in the Altay MBT – however customers can request any power pack they want.

Like the Tulpar-S, it has standard CBRN life support, driver front and rear thermal and day cameras and mounting interfaces for two ATGMs and equipment. It has a crew of three, space for nine troops and is equipped with software-defined vehicle radios, GPS/INS, internal comms, with options for a battlefield management system that includes C3I.

Kibaroglu said that requirements have not been announced, but the Turkish Army is planning for lightweight, next-generation vehicles.

Performance testing has been completed on Tulpar, and now Otokar is trialling various configurations of the vehicle to meet different weight requirements, which will include a range of suspension systems.

Tulpar can also be modified into APC, combat vehicle, ambulance, 105mm anti-tank vehicle, mortar vehicle maintenance and recovery vehicle, engineering vehicle, MLRS vehicle, air defence and reconnaissance vehicle modes.

(Shephard)