Alexander Sychev
The agreement was concluded at the government level, and the total number of vehicles was not disclosed. In general, Turkey can send quite a lot of these armored personnel carriers to Ukraine. For the Turkish armed forces, the Navy company, whose truck and bus factory is located in the city of Izmir, sold about 1,300 vehicles in the Kirpi-1 version.
Now the armored personnel carriers of the first modification are being gradually written off and replaced with the new Kirpi-2 vehicle, which the Navy company introduced in 2018 and immediately received a contract for the supply of 529 units from the Turkish armed forces.
Kirpi-1 is not a very old car. It began to be designed in 2008, a year later the first prototype was shown to representatives of the army, and in 2014 mass production began. During the seven years of operation, the Turkish ground forces have intensively used the Kirpi-1 in their military operations in Kurdistan and northern Syria. The machine, which has a monocoque V-shaped composite armor hull, has demonstrated high resistance to mine and ballistic strikes, significantly reducing losses among military personnel.
An empty armored personnel carrier weighs 18 tons and can take two tons of cargo. The American Cummins diesel engine with a capacity of 375 horsepower is adapted to work in severe frosts.
The delivery of Turkish armored personnel carriers is not accidental. The West began to prepare the Ukrainian army for the winter. Great Britain, for example, decided to send winter uniforms to Kyiv. The Turkish armored personnel carrier will also be warm - it has an air conditioner with an air heating mode.
A six-speed automatic transmission allows you to choose between all-wheel drive and partial drive. Installed longitudinal pneumatic differential lock controlled by the driver. On the independent suspension axles, a combination of parabolic springs, telescopic shock absorbers and an anti-roll bar is used. Steering - with hydraulic booster. Brakes - disc. There is ABS.
The car fits 13 people. The crew consists of three servicemen - the driver, the commander and the gunner. The landing party sits on the sides face to face. The sides have five firing holes and four bulletproof windows on each side of the fighting compartment. There are two hatches in the roof that open into the cabin. One of them leads to a protected turret. At the rear of the vehicle there is a landing door.
The vehicle can be armed with 7.62 or 12.7 mm machine guns. There are also modifications with remotely controlled weapon stations.
Kirpi is equipped with service weapon racks, a GPS system, a rear-view camera and an automatic fire extinguishing system.
In general, the car is not bad, but will Ukraine be able to take full advantage of its advantages? Today, Western countries supply Kyiv with a significant amount of weapons, both old and new. The weapons are different and from it you can organize a large museum dedicated to the weapons of the collective West.
But diversity does not mean knowledge and skill. Skill is developed over time, long-term training. Even the Turkish armored personnel carrier, which, by and large, is like a machine like other heavy vehicles, including trucks and buses, needs training. Of course, it is enough for an experienced driver to drive a dozen other kilometers, and, at the very least, he will get used to it. But this experience may not be enough for combat, because Kirpi has its own peculiarities of tactical use, as, indeed, with other weapons supplied to Kiev.