Turkish BMC Tulga armored pickup truck ready for serial production.

Turkish company BMC is now ready for the serial production of its Tulga (“Helmet”) armored pickup truck designed to meet requirements from the Turkish internal security forces. This stage has been reached after two and a half years of the development process, Turkish media report.
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BMC Tulga armored pickup truck (Picture source: AA)

The truck, which was developed by one of Turkey’s leading commercial and military vehicle manufacturers BMC (set up in Izmir in 1964), is planned to have seven different versions. It weighs about 6 tons and can carry up to five people.

The vehicle can be fitted with additional internal armor panels to enhance its ballistic protection level and mine resistance so far set at 3 kilograms of TNT. BMC raises the point that some similar vehicles that are armored after their production need maintenance within a short time otherwise malfunctions occur, a concern Tulga doesn’t have since it is initially designed as an armored vehicle that can be over-armored (somehow like Arquus' VT4 tactical vehicle). The first purchasers of the vehicle are expected to be the Interior Ministry and related organizations.

Tulga appeared for the first time when Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu visited the BMC factory in western Izmir province in September 2019. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also drove Tulga in Turkey's aerospace and technology festival, Teknofest Istanbul, last year. Later, Tulga was enhanced with new equipment and become ready for mass production.

BMC produces various types of military vehicles, including tanks and armored vehicles, as well as commercial vehicles, buses and trucks. The company is also one of several working on the production of Turkey's first homegrown main battle tank, Altay.