Armor: November 13, 1999

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FNSS of Turkey and Lockheed Martin of the US are jointly offering a new anti-tank vehicle to the Middle East market. The chassis is the New Generation version of the Turkish Armored Combat Vehicle. It has been lengthened with a sixth road wheel for better internal volume and stability. A new turret designed by Lockheed Martin mounts four Hellfire AGM-114 missiles, identical to those carried by Apache helicopters. There are four reload missiles inside; a loader must expose himself in the hatch to place them into the launchers. The vehicle can engage targets 5km away, although this increases to 8km if a forward observer is available to designate the target by laser. The turret has 360 powered traverse.--Stephen V Cole