Turkish firm Otokar lands $1.47B armored vehicle deal

Turkish defense manufacturer Otokar has signed a $1.47 billion contract to export wheeled armored vehicles and logistics support to a customer it has not named, though the deal will not take effect until government approvals are in place and the buyer pays an advance.

The contract, worth exactly $1,472,080,360, covers the supply of several types of wheeled armored vehicles and integrated logistics support services for them, Otokar said in a disclosure filed on Oct. 1 with Türkiye’s Public Disclosure Platform, the country’s stock market disclosure system. The filing did not identify the buyer, the vehicle models or the number of vehicles.

The contract will enter into force once the required approvals from official authorities are obtained, the letters of guarantee are completed and the customer makes an advance payment, according to the filing. Otokar will provide the customer with letters of guarantee totaling $441,624,108 to cover its obligations under the deal and the advance it will receive.

Once the contract is in force, vehicle deliveries are planned to start in 2027 and be completed in batches over three years. The contract will remain in effect for seven years, which leaves time for logistics support after the last vehicles are handed over.

The deal is larger than Otokar’s previous headline export, a 2024 contract with Romania for 1,059 Cobra II 4×4 armored vehicles worth roughly $1 billion. Under that contract, the first 278 vehicles are being built at Otokar’s plant in Sakarya, in northwest Türkiye, and the rest in Romania through a joint venture, with the first vehicles delivered in June 2025.

The filing’s reference to “wheeled armored vehicles” narrows the possible models. Otokar’s wheeled range includes the Cobra and Cobra II 4×4 tactical vehicles, the Arma 6×6 and 8×8 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, and armored internal security vehicles, while its Tulpar tracked infantry fighting vehicle falls outside that description.

Otokar, part of Türkiye’s Koç Group, sells military vehicles to customers in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. Estonia ordered about 230 armored personnel carriers, roughly half of them Arma 6x6s, in 2023, and Cobra vehicles serve with armies including those of Nigeria, Ghana and Rwanda. Kazakhstan has been reported to be buying Arma 8x8s, though that order has never been officially confirmed.