Turkey to export armored vehicle

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ISTANBUL, Turkey, May 4 (UPI) -- Turkish armored vehicle maker Otokar plans to export eight-wheeled armored vehicles it has just developed, the newspaper Hurriyet Daily News reported.

"The Turkish armed forces needs no such vehicles in the very short term," Serdar Gorguc, the Otokar general manager said." On the other hand, many militaries in the world are in need of such vehicles, so we are in this business."

Otokar plans to display its Arma 8x8 at an international defense fair next week in Istanbul, Turkey.

The Arma is an amphibious tactical wheeled armored vehicle with a high degree of ballistic and mine protection.

Otokar said the Arma 8x8 will be competing with rivals for contracts in at least two countries in the next two months but the countries weren't identified.

Otokar is owned by Turkey's top business conglomerate, Koc Holding and produces a family of seven armored vehicles.

Last December it signed contracts worth $9.3 million for exports of several vehicle types and a contract worth more than $10 million for the first export of its Arma 6x6 vehicles.

Under a $500 million contract, Otokar and its partners have been tasked to deliver four prototypes for a new generation tank by 2015. In agreement with South Korea's Hyundai Rotem, Otokar is obtaining technology transfer from the company that produced South Korea's K1 and K2 main battle tanks.