Malaysia’s DRB-HICOM Defence Technologies (Deftech) and FNSS Savunma Sistemleri are collaborating on positioning the Turkish company’s 4×4 and 6×6 Pars armoured combat vehicles to replace the Malaysian Army’s German-made Condor 4×4s and Belgian-made SIBMAS 6×6 armoured vehicles. FNSS is attending the 17th Defense Services Asia (DSA) Exhibition, the largest defense industry meeting of Far East Asia, which will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, between 28-31 March. FNSS will promote its products and services at NATSEC Asia in its booth in Hall 2, which will take place in the Turkish Pavilion. FNSS exhibit the PARS 4×4 Anti-Tank Vehicle with ARC-T Remote Controlled Anti-Tank Turret and PARS III 6×6 with 12.7 mm SANCAK Remote Controlled Turret.
The Pars (Turkish for Anatolian Leopard) is an amphibious Armoured combat vehicle family with 4×4, 6×6 and 8×8 versions, produced by FNSS Defence Systems of Turkey. The development of the PARS vehicles commenced in 2002, based on a design by US company GPV (General Purpose Vehicles), and in cooperation with GPV. The PARS III 8×8 vehicle runs ahead of its competitors by offering ballistic and mine protection levels similar to MRAP vehicles while maintaining combat and mobility characteristics of modern armoured combat vehicles. PARS 8×8 was first displayed in February 2005 during the IDEX defence equipment exhibition held in Abu Dhabi. PARS 4×4 and PARS 6×6 is being proposed for the Turkish Army.
The PARS 4×4 is designed to undertake special operational roles such as advanced surveillance, anti-tank and command and control. The PARS 4×4 has a power-to-weight ratio of 25 Hp/ton, a low silhouette and amphibious capabilities. The PARS III 6×6 has been developed with a special emphasis on mobility, protection, payload, and growth potential. It is equipped with cutting edge armoured vehicle technologies to obtain performances and durability answering modern armies’ operational requirements. The PARS III 6×6 front and rear axle steering system gives the vehicle the lowest turning radius in its class.
The two programmes plan to build on Deftech and FNSS’s partnership on developing and building the Malaysian Army’s 8×8 AV8 armoured fighting vehicle, which is an evolved version of the FNSS’s 8×8 Pars armoured combat vehicle platform. The vehicle has a modular design which allows the fitting of different turrets, weapons, sensors, and communications systems on the same vehicle. The vehicle has 12 variants, including the armoured personnel carrier, infantry fighting vehicle, tank destroyer, signals intelligence vehicle and recovery vehicles. The AV8 is manufactured by DefTech in Pahang, Malaysia. A total of 124 units will be the IFV30 and IFV25 variants in the first batch of 257 DefTech AV8 Gempita.
