Turkish Company Otokar has signed a new export contract with an undisclosed African client for the delivery of Arma 8×8 and Cobra II 4×4 tactical wheeled armored vehicles, as well as spare parts and training services at the cost of $110 million.
This Otokar says is the first export contract for the Otokar Arma 8×8 armored vehicle to an African country, and delivery is slated for early 2021 and will be completed by the end of 2022. Otokar General Manager Serdar Görgüç, said, “With this order, our Arma 8×8 vehicle will be an African passenger for the first time; it will serve in the African continent. It also makes us proud that this new order came from a country to which we have been exporting before. Our vehicles, which our user has included in his inventory…became a reference for this new order; they preferred Otokar to meet their 4×4 and 8×8 tactical wheeled armoured vehicle needs.”
Regarding the Cobra armored vehicle, several African users have acquired the type including Burkina Faso, Ghana, Algeria, Mauritania, Nigeria, Rwanda and Tunisia. Chad may also be operating the type.
Otokar Arma 8×8 armored vehicle
The Otokar ARMA 8×8 armored vehicle is a next-generation multi-mission wheeled platform offering superior tactical and technical capabilities.
Being multi-mission compliant, it supports the integration of various types of mission equipment or weapon systems that can meet the current needs of the modern armies in real battlefield and peacemaking operations.
The ARMA supports weapon stations like open cupola, closed turret weapon station, remote control weapon station, and several caliber weapon systems.
Otokar Cobra II armored vehicle
While the Cobra II armored tactical vehicle is the latest generation of 4×4 tactical armored vehicles in the Cobra family also designed and manufactured by the Defense Company Otokar.
The vehicle has a crew of two including driver and commander and the rear of the vehicle and can carry and protect seven military personnel, against threats from 7.62 mm machine gun, improvised explosive devices, land mines.
The Cobra II can be fitted with a remotely operated weapon station armed with a machine gun or a light automatic cannon up to 30mm caliber.
In Africa, the Ghanaian Army is an operator of the Cobra II armored vehicle which it acquired in 2019. Two Cobra II and two Cobra armored vehicles participated in the country’s counter-terrorism Exercise ‘Eagle Eye‘.