Development of the Marine Assault Vehicle (MAV) Zaha by FNSS Savunma Sistemleri A.Ş. (FNSS) is an offshoot of Turkish Navy’s bigger procurement program, which will lead to the commissioning of the Landing Helicopter Dock Anadolu at the beginning of 2020’. In all, 27 MAVs will be delivered and used on-board Anadolu to support a wide range of operations conducted by the Turkish Navy in the region.
Turkey is one of a handful of countries, which have decided to independently design a marine assault vehicle platform. The effort might very well pay off not only by meeting Turkish Navy’s all operational requirements by also being up to the standard for potential export clients / Picture: Michal Jarocki
Design and development phase of the future MAV Zaha started over two years ago and it was the first time the FNSS company was tasked with such a challenge. Currently, MAV Zaha is being developed in three variants: armoured personnel carrier, command and recovery vehicle, but the manufacturer foresees the development of other variants, if the Turkish Navy has such a requirement.
The company expects that testing phase of the MAV Zaha commences late 2019 and runs through to 2020, allowing for deliveries of the vehicles to start in 2021. MAV’s were developed according to client’s requirements which, among other things, included capacity for carrying up to 21 dismounts in full gear, 30t GVW and reaching up to 15 nm in water.
Looking into the future, the FNSS company puts high hopes into potential export opportunities, especially in Asia. A number of South and Southeast Asian countries, many of which are referred to as ‘island states’, already have or might just set a requirement for a platform capable of transporting troops from ship to shore, while providing fire support to troops in the battlezone.
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