SAHA Expo 2024 – FNSS: two Kaplans are better than one; an armoured personnel carrier will join the medium tank in Indonesian service
Following the success of the Kaplan MT, the now fully Turkish company will develop, once again with PT Pindad, the new armoured personnel carrier for the Indonesian Army.
With 18 Kaplan MT (Medium Tank) now in service with the Indonesian Army which calls it Harimau, 10 of them built in the FNSS facility in Turkey and eight assembled by PT Pindad in Indonesia, the cooperation between the two companies was more than successful and a possible add-on contract for the further tanks might materialise, funding permitting.
The success of the medium tank led the Indonesian Ministry of Defence to contract PT Pindad for the development of a new armoured personnel carrier platform. “Which led to a renewed cooperation between the two companies, Nail Kurt, FNSS CEO stated at the press conference organised when the doors of the SAHA Expo, the defence exhibition taking place in Istanbul October 22-26, opened its doors to the visitors.
“Production activities will start in 2025,” he added, “with prototypes available in 2026 to start testing. Qualification tests will be conducted by both companies, part in Turkey and part in Indonesia.
The development process is meant to be quite quick, as the Kaplan APC, as it is known for the time being, will take numerous elements from the Kaplan MT. One of those is the powerpack; suspensions, roadwheels and other automotive elements are also the same, steel tracks being the Indonesian choice. Declared maximum speed on road is 70 km/h, however EDR On-Line understood that this figure is pretty conservative, while estimated rage is 450 km. Mobility figures call for a 60% gradient, a 30% side slope, a 0.9 metres vertical obstacle, and a 2- metres trench crossing.
The need to carry infantry in the rear compartment obviously led to a full redesign as the powerpack is now in front, on the left side, Indonesia being a right-hand drive country. The Kaplan APC carries a three-man crew, driver, commander and gunner, and 10 dismounts at the back, these accessing and leaving the vehicle via a powered ramp.
The new APC will have an “advanced ballistic protection” which level remains obviously classified, the same being true for the “advanced mine protection”; it will be fitted with spall liners and will feature a CBRN protection system and an automatic fire suppression system. Among survivability optional we find a gunshot detection system, a laser warning receiver and even an active protection system, Turkish industry being able to provide the whole package. Although no details were available, the new vehicle being still in the design phase, it will certainly be fitted with energy absorbing seats to further reduce the impact of possible underbelly explosions.
Coming to firepower, the APC version will be fitted with a remotely controlled weapon station, capable to carry weapons such as a 12.7 mm machine gun or a 40 mm automatic grenade launcher. Manned options can also be considered. The vehicle data sheet mentions eight smoke grenade dischargers, however the model seen at SAHA Expo featured a series of six dischargers on each side of the vehicle for a total of 12.
EDR On-Line understood that for the time being Indonesia expressed an interest for the APC version only, however a vehicle such as the Kaplan APC is definitely a platform born to generate a family of vehicles. Some of those might have a higher firepower, the vehicle being able to carry medium calibre manned or unmanned turrets, and even bigger calibres, although Indonesia already fields the Harimau armed with a 105 mm rifled gun. A fire support vehicle fitted with a 30/35 mm calibre turret would make sense, a series of other combat support and combat service support variants being foreseeable. Among those armoured engineer vehicle, armoured recovery vehicle, armoured surveillance vehicle, fuel carrier vehicle, armoured command post vehicle and armoured vehicle launcher bridge were those mentioned in the FNSS presentation.
In the APC configuration the vehicle mass in combat order is around 30 tonnes, however EDR On-Line understood it could climb up to 35 tonnes, either adding a higher level armour or adding a heavier turret.
No figures are yet available concerning a possible production contract by Indonesia, the country having seen a recent change at the top, with the former Minister of Defence, Prabowo Subianto, winning the February elections and being sworn in as President two days before the unveiling of the Kaplan MBT programme.
Due to the political situation the nation’s budget was put on hold, and things might come back to normality in Q2 2025. What is clear is that due to financial constraints Indonesia should order the new tracked APC in batches, possibly adding new versions along time.
Photos by P. Valpolini
