TULPAR Infantry Fighting Vehicle, which enables the integration of manned or unmanned weapon systems, mortar and air defense systems via its modular structure, has successfully completed the firing tests in Åžereflikoçhisar, Turkey. Tulpar is a Turkish heavy infantry fighting vehicle designed by the Sakarya-based automotive manufacturer Otokar. Otokar’s Tulpar is fitted with the Mızrak-U turret system armed with a 30mm dual-fed automatic cannon and a 7.62mm coaxial machine gun. MIZRAK turret will be eqquiped Umtas anti tank missile. Tulpar is powered by an 810 hp, 15.7-liter, water-cooled V8 diesel engine that is turbo charged and drives an automatic transmission. Tulpar’s maximum speed is 70 km/h and economic range is 600 km.
The vehicle has been designed to augment Turkey’s new-generation Altay MBT in operations and to safely transport infantry to the front lines while providing fire support for other armored units. The IFV is also available in variants such as reconnaissance, command-and-control, personnel carrier, mortar, recovery, launch rocket system, air defence, ambulance and anti-tank vehicles. Tulpar was designed for the dual role of providing fire support to friendly main battle tanks and safely transporting troops in a high-threat environment. Tulpar is also fully networkable with the Altay MBT and other units.
Export customers of Tulpar can decide on what level of protection is desired based on their specific threat environment, terrain and IFV configuration. In its basic form the Tulpar provides protection against small arms (STANAG 4569 level 2), but it can be upgraded with composite armor that provides protection against 25 mm projectiles (STANAG 4569 level 5). Tulpar features modular armor. This allows the maintenance center to quickly swap any damaged armor panels and also makes the IFV easily upgradable for added protection against higher caliber projectiles. Otokar plans to install a hard kill system on the future variants of Tulpar. The vehicle is fully NBC protected.
