The Armoured Amphibious Marine Assault Vehicle (MAV) also nicknamed Zaha, is developed by the Turkish company FNSS within the scope of the Presidency of Defence Industries project to meet the amphibious armored vehicle needs of the Turkish Naval Forces Command. The MAV was exhibited during the international defense exhibition IDEF, which was held in August 2021.
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Armored Amphibious Marine Assault Vehicle MAV Zaha is designed and developed by the Turkish company FNSS. (Picture source FNSS)
Turkish company FNSS will deliver a total of 27 vehicles, 23 of which are personnel carriers, 2 of which are command and control vehicles, and 2 of which are rescue vehicles. The engineering development activities were completed and the qualification phase has begun. The first vehicle will be delivered within 2021 after completing the qualification tests. The project will be completed in 2022.
During the past 2 years, many engineering tests and subsystem qualifications have been successfully completed with the prototype vehicle, such as durability, performance at sea, performance on land, self-righting, which are rehearsals of the qualification tests to be carried out with the Presidency of Defence Industries and Navy. MAV has higher ballistic and mine protection compared to its counterparts and is equipped with today's most advanced mission equipment.
Being the fastest amphibious vehicle that entered the Turkish Armed Forces inventory, MAV will have all the features and capabilities of both a military land vehicle and a military marine vessel, by balancing the land and sea requirements.
The vehicle was designed by FNSS according to the requirements of Turkish Naval Forces and to meet the amphibious operational requirements of Turkish armed forces. During the beach landing phase of an amphibious operation, these vehicles are launched from landing helicopter docks (LHD) and are able to rapidly cover the distance between the vessel and shore, allowing marine units to land under armor protection.
The MAV also nicknamed Zaha is an amphibious armored vehicle fully designed and manufactured by the Turkish company FNSS based on a tracked chassis. The vehicle has a crew of three and can carry up to 21 infantrymen at the rear part of the hull. It is based on an aluminum hull that provides protection against the firing of small arms and artillery shell splinters. The vehicle is powered by a Diesel engine mounted at the front of the hull coupled to a fully automatic transmission. During amphibious operations, the vehicle is propelled in the water at a maximum speed of 13 km/h (7 knots) thanks to two water jets mounted at the rear of the hull. The vehicle can reach a top road speed of 70 km/h.
For its self-protection, the MAV Zaha is fitted with a remotely operated weapon station mounted on the top hull that can be armed with one 12.7 mm heavy machine gun or one 40mm automatic grenade launcher. The vehicle can be configured in different variants such as Personnel Carrier and Command-Post. Few navies worldwide possess such a capability.
