Place of origin Turkey Used by Turkish Land Forces Manufacturer FNSS Defence Systems | In service 2005 - Present Designer FNSS Defence Systems | |
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Type Armoured combat vehicle | ||
The Pars (Turkish for Anatolian Leopard) is an amphibious Armoured combat vehicle family with 6×6 and 8×8 versions, produced by FNSS Defence Systems of Turkey.
Contents
Development
The development of the PARS vehicles commenced in 2002, based on a design by US company GPV (General Purpose Vehicles), and in cooperation with GPV. PARS 6x6 is being proposed for the Turkish Army. PARS 8x8 was first displayed in February 2005 during the IDEX defence equipment exhibition held in Abu Dhabi. Since the first PARS vehicles were shown in 2005 development and further enhancements have been carried out on a continuous basis.
The PARS 8x8 vehicle was examined by the Malaysian Army in 2006 competing with the Swiss Piranha IIIC and the Finnish Patria AMV. It was demonstrated in the deserts of the UAE in 2008 covering 11,000 km of desert and road trials. Further testing was again carried out in the UAE deserts in 2010. The PARS 8x8, fitted with a 25mm gun turret, was also successfully tested by another Middle Eastern country in the summer of 2010.
Design
The baseline PARS has a hull consisting of a steel armour.
The driver and commander are seated in a cockpit at the front of the vehicle. Each has a single-piece roof hatch that opens to the side. Both have access to flat-panel displays, on which all relevant information is shown. The seating arrangement depends on the role but the troops are normally seated on individual seats down each side of the hull facing inwards. These shock-absorbing seats are fitted with five-point seatbelts as standard. A large ramp fitted at the rear section will be used for entry and exit of troops. The modular design of the PARS will incorporate external turrets or weapon stations depending on user requirements. It could be a one or two-man turret or a remotely operated weapon station. To allow for PARS to be rapidly reconfigured for different operational roles, all members of the PARS family have removable roofing so that they can be quickly converted for a wide range of specialist roles.