Armor: February 11, 2002

Archives

The Turkish company Aselsan has developed the new Volkan fire control system for tanks and has won a contract to install it in 162 Leopard-1A4 tanks at a cost of just under $1 million per tank. The Turks had wanted to buy new fire controls and Leopard-1A5s from Germany, but the Germans would not sell due to concerns over Turkish treatment of the Kurds. The Turks then set about designing their own enhanced fire control system, and after a year of testing two Volkan prototypes, have declared it ready for action. Another 65 Turkish Leopard-1A4s need upgrading and the Turks plan to use the Volkan in the much larger project to upgrade M60 tanks.--Stephen V Cole