ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish manufacturer Nurol Machinery has penned the first export deal for its signature heavy armored vehicle, the company announced Monday.
The maker of the Ejder Yalcin said in a written statement that the first export contract involves a "North African country." The company did not name the client country for secrecy clauses in the contract.
The Ejder Yalcin is a heavy armored combat vehicle with conventional and ballistic protection against mines and improvised explosive devices.
Nurol Makina, a four-wheel drive tactical armored vehicles specialist, has sold more than 250 units of the Ejder Yalcin. Total orders have exceeded 500 units.
"We have won the [export] deal after long efforts and negotiations," said Engin Aykol, Nurol's general manager. "What matters now is to win further export contracts."
Nurol said it closed the deal after a round of recent successful desert tests with the Ejder Yalcin. The contract involves an unspecified number of the vehicle and a comprehensive integrated logistical support package, the company said.
Nurol's sales jumped from a mere $5 million in 2012 to nearly $100 million in 2016, a 20-fold rise in a span of four years.
The Ejder Yalcin is used both by the Turkish military and the police special forces, mostly in the country's southeast where Kurdish militants have been fighting a violent separatist war since 1984.
Nurol is part of Nurol Holding Inc., which also partners in FNSS, another armored vehicle producer and a partnership between Nurol and BAE Systems; Nurol Technology, a defense technologies concern; and the newly launched BNA, a joint venture between Nurol and BAE specializing in subsystems for aerospace programs.
Burak Ege Bekdil was the Turkey correspondent for Defense News.
