"Zaha" (Zaha) - this is how the Turkish designers called their first amphibious assault vehicle. Its development is kept secret and according to the plans of the designers, this machine will be revealed to the world at the Istanbul exhibition of weapons IDEF-2019, which will be launched in May.
Work on the creation of "Zaha" began in the spring of 2017. According to the agreement between the developer and the military department of Turkey, in total 27 such floating machines should go off the assembly line. They will be based on the universal landing ship "Anadolu".
The new BMD is an armored sealed all-welded parallelepiped with a total weight of 30 tons. A mobile tower is installed on top of it, and in front it is sharpened to improve cross-country ability. Tracked vehicle. It develops land speed up to 70 km / h, in water - 7 nautical miles per hour (that is, approximately 13 km / h).
The propulsion system is installed in the front of the machine. The buoyancy of the BMD give two jet propulsion located in the rear of the hull.
The Zahi is armed with a 12.7 mm M2 HB machine gun and a 40 mm automatic grenade launcher.
The crew consists of a commander and driver. The airborne compartment of a combat vehicle will accommodate an impressive group of paratroopers of up to 21 people.
By the way, with regard to the location, the construction of the universal landing ship "Anadolu" began at the beginning of this year. He will enter the armed forces of Turkey no earlier than 2021.
The UDC under construction according to the project will accommodate 11 helicopters and 7 Harrier aircraft. In addition, the ship takes on board four tank landing boats of the LCM type, two small landing boats of the LCVP type, and 27 sailing Zhaha BMDs.
The basis of the Turkish "Anadolu" taken by the Spanish "Juan Carlos I".
