Turkey: To fit active-protection system onto its Tanks.

(Ankara)  After a couple of years of military adventures where its main battle tanks have succumbed to Anti-Tank missiles on the battlefield, the Turkish government  has stated that its main battle tanks (MBTs) will soon receive a home-grown active-protection system (APS)  to defends its tank fleet.

Turkish Defence Minister Nurettin Canikli announced that the active protection system supplied by the Aselsan-Ukrainian partnership will begin to install the Pulat APS on tanks in March.Whilst the Turks are promoting the PULAT as a Turkish system, it is actually the Ukrainian  Zaslon-L APSsystem built by Turkish defence company  ASELSAN under licence.

The system differs from Israeli APS systems such as Trophy, and Iron Fist in that they are fitted with magazines  and are centrally mounted to cover 360 degrees.

The PULAT in contrast is a single shot affair and fitted around the vehicle in which to defend the area in front.  The bonus for the Ukraine with selling this to Turkey is they get real time feedback in which to further improve the Zaslon , that will help in its fight against Russia in the east of the country, the bonus for Turkey is they stop losing tanks.