Otokar scored its biggest export success by exporting hundreds of Cobra Light Armoured Vehicles to the Bangladesh Army.
The Turkish defence industry giant has supplied the Bangladesh Army with Otokar Cobra and Cobra II LAVs besides it also sold 28 Armoured Protective Vehicles (APV) to the Border Guard Bangladesh.
The firm sold almost 300 amphibious version of the Cobra light armoured vehicles to the mechanised brigades of the Bangladesh Army.
The Cobra has seen wide scale deployment in UN Peacekeeping missions across the African continent, particularly the restive country of Mali. There some of the Cobra’s were fitted with electronic jammers to protect convoys against IEDs.
The Bangladesh Army has confirmed to Defseca the force maintains up to 300 Cobra LAVs. The force is also planning to acquire 600 more examples of the Cobra II LAVs. Besides the force is also purchasing another 300 MaxxPro Dash DXM MRAP from Navistar Defense in Illinois, USA.
Cobra
The Cobra uses some mechanical components and sub-systems of the HMMWV. It’s monocoque steel v-hull provides protection against small arms fire, artillery shell shrapnel, and to a certain degree against anti-personnel and tank mines, and IEDs. Front wheel arches are designed to be blown away to free blast pockets. It survived a direct hit from an RPG during operational deployment in Syria.
The Cobra vehicle forms a common platform which can be adapted for various roles and mission requirements including: armoured personnel carrier, anti-tank vehicle, reconnaissance vehicle, ground surveillance radar vehicle, forward observation vehicle, armoured ambulance, armoured command post, turreted vehicle for 12.7mm machine gun (turret produced by the Israeli firm Rafael), 20mm cannon, anti-tank missiles such as the TOW missile and Spike missiles or surface-to-air missiles. Cobras can be used as amphibious combat vehicles.
Cobra II
First unveiled at IDEF 2013, the Cobra II is a more heavily armoured successor to the Cobra. The Cobra II has a combat weight that is roughly double that of its predecessor and is slightly wider, longer and taller. Standard equipment includes rear view camera, thermal front camera, air conditioning system, blackout lighting system, multi-point seat belts, radio provisions, and a towing eye. It can be optionally equipped with a self-recovery winch, nuclear, biological and chemical filtration kit, automation fire extinguishing system, intercom system, navigation system and an auxiliary power unit. In an APC configuration, the vehicle can carry nine personnel and can be armed with a number of different weapons, including crew-operated machine guns and remote weapon stations armed with short-range surface-to-air missiles and grenade launchers. Powered by a 6.7 L, six-cylinder, water cooled, turbo charged, common rail diesel engine that produces 281 hp, its maximum road speed is 110 km/h on roads and has a maximum cruising range of 700 km with an operating temperature from -10 up to 45 degree C.
