ZAHA Went Abroad for the First Time

07 November 2022

ZAHA amphibious assault vehicle (all photos : Defense Studies)

FNSS, one of the armored land vehicle manufacturers of the Turkish defense industry, exhibited ZAHA at the Indo Defense Expo & Forum 2022 Fair held in Jakarta, Indonesia.

ZAHA, whose qualification studies have come to an end and is preparing to enter the inventory, was taken to Indonesia by ship in approximately 1.5 months. With the fair, ZAHA was exhibited abroad for the first time.

FNSS ZAHA Program Manager Mustafa Kaplan told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the ZAHA Project started with the contract signed in March 2017 between the Presidency of Defense Industry Presidency and FNSS.

Stating that the vehicles to be produced within the scope of the project will be placed under the command of the Marine Infantry Brigade, Kaplan said, "We are about to complete the qualification phase of our project. After the completion of the qualification phase, we will present our vehicles to the command of the Naval Forces." said.

Pointing out that ZAHA is the first vehicle that FNSS has ever produced that can operate at sea, Kaplan said, "At the same time, it is a very rare vehicle in the world. Only the USA has a very old design in the world. ZAHA is much more up-to-date than it is. And it has outstanding features.” he said.

It has 3 variants

Providing information about the features of the vehicle, Kaplan pointed out that ZAHA has both mine and ballistic protection features. Explaining that the vehicle can reach a maximum speed of 7 knots at sea, Kaplan continued:

"It can reach a speed of 70 kilometers per hour on land, too. We can carry a total of 21 personnel in our vehicle. We have 3 different variants. One of them is the personnel carrier we showed at the fair. In addition, we have command and rescue vehicles. We have a remote-controlled weapon system in our command and personnel carrier vehicles. In this weapon system, we have 2 guns at the same time. It has a 40 mm grenade launcher and a 12.7 mm automatic machine gun. Our current weapon system works with superior features. The automatic target tracking system does its own calculations and can destroy enemy elements very effectively."

Kaplan said that they have been trying to optimize ZAHA so that it can meet the needs of the sea while also meeting the mine and ballistic requirements, and the targeted result has been achieved.

Indonesian soldiers found what they were looking for in ZAHA

Stating that Indonesia's interest in this vehicle has continued for the last few years, Kaplan said:

"Last May, the Indonesian Marine Corps Commander visited Turkey and had the opportunity to examine our vehicle. We also conducted sea tests with him. When they arrived, they expressed that they liked the vehicle very much. There is a US solution with similar capabilities to this vehicle, but our vehicle is different from this vehicle. It has much superior features. The Indonesian army already has the vehicles I mentioned and they were very pleased when they saw ZAHA due to the troubles they had there and they expressed their desire to supply this vehicle very quickly. In this direction, we brought our vehicle to the fair and provided them with the opportunity to see it again. We have created an environment where we can discuss the details. Our hope is to turn it into a contract as soon as possible."

(AA)