Turkish Firm to Export 46 Mine-resistant Vehicles to Tunisia

Turkish automotive manufacturer, BMC has received a contract to export  41 Kirpi (Hedgehog) mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles and five Kirpi 4x4 ambulances to Tunisia.

Shipments of the vehicles will be made in batches in the coming months. With this deal, the number of vehicles that BMC has recently put into use in Tunisia will reach 92. Tunisia will become the country with the largest Kirpi fleet after Turkey, Anadolu agency reported.

Additionally, this will be the first sale of the Kirpi 4x4 ambulance outside Turkey.

A mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicle, Kirpi was developed by BMC for Turkey's Land Forces Command requirements. The vehicle has a shielded position for a gunner on top of the roof, which is operated manually and can rotate 360 degrees.

The MRAP can be armed with a 7.62 mm or a 12.7 mm machine gun. The vehicle is also available with a remote-controlled weapons station. Furthermore, there are numerous firing ports provided for troops where most of them have associated vision blocks.

In recent years, Turkeyh’s exports to Tunisia include Anka unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); BMC’s Kirpi MRAP vehicles; Nurol Makina’s Ejder Yalçın armored vehicles; various Katmerciler vehicles, such as tankers and tanks, and ASELSAN’s electro-optic systems.