Turkey selling body armor to Middle East

• Tweet

ANKARA, Turkey, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Turkish defense firm Nurol is selling its body armor to Middle Eastern countries.

Nurol's contracts for its T-Shield bulletproof vest are worth $45 million.

Nurol is exporting what the company calls called "Turkey's first indigenous armor, the T-shield" after production began in 2010.

"Steel armor is very heavy and ruins many of the features of vehicles. Furthermore, the armor we have produced is a lot sturdier than steel," Nurol General Manager Tunc said. "We are one of three countries in the world to manufacture state-of-the-art boron-carbide armor, falling just behind the United States and Germany.

"We have signed contracts worth $45 million so far. We have a limited production capacity and therefore our first priority is to make sure our own armed forces and police are protected."

Boron carbide, a boron ceramic material, is one of the hardest materials known and is used in military applications such as tank armor and bulletproof vests.

Turkey has an estimated 72 percent of the world's estimated boron reserves of 3 billon-4 billion tons.