Turkey’s armoured vehicles maker Otokar, during the Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) on September21-25, in the City of Tshwane, South Africa announced its plans to increase its sales of armoured vehicles to the continent.
At the AAD 2022, Otokar promoted its broad land systems product range, including 4×4, 6×6, and 8×8 tactical wheeled armoured vehicles, tracked armoured vehicles and weapon systems.
“Currently, Otokar vehicles are actively used in five continents, including Africa,” said General Manager Serdar Görgüç, “Our vehicles are widely used by peacekeepers on the continent. We are indeed proud of our vehicles’ success in several United Nations and African Union peacebuilding and peacekeeping missions including MINUSCA, MINUSMA, MONUSCO, UNAMID, UNMIK, UNMIL and UNMISS.
Serdar emphasized that Otokar is a registered NATO and United Nations supplier and that the COBRA II draws attention to its successful performance in Africa, “Otokar COBRA II is a combat-proven vehicle with its exceptional performance suitable for conventional and asymmetric warfare conditions. We are proud that COBRA II is now successfully serving more than 10 end users worldwide and is known as the best in its class. We strongly believe that the performance of our vehicles is the most important reference for our potential customers, and we stand out with our ability to respond quickly to ever-changing requirements and needs of end users thanks to our design, test, and manufacturing capabilities. In addition to COBRA II, ARMA 6×6 and ARMA 8×8 vehicles will be one of the first choices of different users in Africa in the coming years.”
COBRA II offers a high level of protection, payload capacity, and large internal volume. In addition to superior mobility, COBRA II also comes with the capacity to accommodate up to 10 personnel including the driver and commander, offering high protection against ballistic, mine, and IED threats.
Delivering high performance in the toughest terrain and climate conditions with a high power-to-weight ratio, COBRA II is operated in different parts of the world, on the toughest terrain and climate conditions, and made thousands of miles. Preferred especially for offering a wide range of weapons integration and mission equipment options; COBRA II is successfully in service as a personnel carrier, high mobility, medical evacuation, command & control and recovery variants for peacekeeping operations. The modular structure of COBRA II also makes the vehicle a multi-purpose platform suitable for reconnaissance, CBRN reconnaissance, border protection, satellite communication, anti-tank and air defence missions and operated by the military, paramilitary and peacekeeping forces.
Last year, Otokar recorded 53% year-on-year revenue growth in the first nine months of 2021, with its third quarter-end revenues totalling 2.7 billion Turkish lira (some $335 million). General Manager Serdar Görgüç noted that it continues to operate in over 60 countries on five continents with products with owned intellectual property rights.
In 2020, Otokar announced that it had signed a new export contract with an undisclosed African client for the delivery of Arma 8×8 and Cobra II 4×4 tactical wheeled armoured 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 armoured vehicle to an African country, and delivery is slated for early 2021 and will be completed by the end of 2022.
However, later reports identified Uganda as the undisclosed African client for the Arma 8×8 and Cobra II 4×4 tactical wheeled armoured vehicles to be delivered by Turkey’s Otokar.
Otokar has sold several vehicles to African countries particularly it’s Cobra 4×4 light tactical vehicle which is being fielded by Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, Burkina Faso, and others.