Turkish armoured vehicle manufacturer Nurol Makina partnered with Rheinmetall Norway at this year’s Live Firing Show, held at Pabradė military base near Vilnius on 26 April 2023, to conduct a live firing from an Ejder Yalçın 4×4 tactical armoured vehicle using the Ragnarok 120 mm mortar system.
Nurol Makina’s appearance at the Lithuanian show was its debut at the event. The mortar-carrying Ejder Yalçın vehicle was developed to meet the fire support requirements of commando, infantry, motorised infantry, mechanised infantry and special forces units. Nurol Makina states that the vehicle’s high stability and mobility provide an ideal mortar platform, allowing the mortar to be fired with precision and then quickly relocated to avoid counter-battery fire.
The Ejder Yalçın 4×4 has carried out successful missions under a broad range of climates in various regions, from the deserts of Gulf to the mountains and steppes of Central Asia and Africa to the difficult muddy grounds of Europe. It can ford up to 1.1 m of water, climb 0.5 m obstacles, cross trenches up to 1.1 m and negotiate gradients of up to 60% and side slopes of up to 30%.
The Ejder Yalçın 4×4 can accommodate nine personnel in addition to its crew of two. Its payload capacity of up to 4 tons has allowed Nurol Makina to design and deliver a large number of variants to both domestic and international users. Beyond the basic personnel carrier configuration (and now mortar carrier), variants have included: command-and-control vehicle; anti-tank missile platform; air defence missile platform; radar vehicle; border surveillance and security vehicle; armoured combat vehicle; surveillance and reconnaissance vehicle; ambulance; jammer vehicle; mine detection and clearance vehicle; and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear protection vehicle.
Peter Felstead