Uzbek daily Gazeta.uz has published an article on May 20th to announce that Goskomoboronprom is testing Tarlon armoured vehicle. Goskomoboronprom is Uzbekistan’s governing body in the defence industry.
According to an unofficial translation from Russian to English, the daily said, “Light armoured SUV Tarlon is being tested in Uzbekistan. The vehicle with a capacity of up to 11 people is made of armoured steel, and the protection class meets international standards.”
The daily wrote that Tarlon is designed and manufactured by order of ministries and departments in the Armed Forces. The vehicle has a capacity of 11 personal and can protect NATO Stanag (3+ level). The cruising range on the highway is at least 750 km.
According to Gazeta.uz, military and special equipment production are planned to be established in Nurafshan, Tashkent. A corresponding project worth $ 55 million was presented to the president at the beginning of the year. Nurafshon-Maxsus-Texnika was supposed to be engaged in its implementation with the assistance of the NBU.
It is publicly known that Uzbekh authorities met with Turkish Nurol Makina in the past. Uzbekistan acquired 24 Ejder 4X4 vehicles from the Turkish manufacturer. The first vehicle was delivered to Uzbekistan in 2019.
Also, it signed an MoU to invest in a plant to manufacture at least 1000 Ejder vehicles in Uzbekistan.
The Tarlon appeared on media soon after the delivery. The founder of TurDef has written about the case as exclusive news. At that time, a source had spoken under the condition of anonymity and had said that “we became aware of 4×4 vehicle by media. We were surprised by the remarkable resemblance to the vehicle.” They also underlined that Nurol Makina has no production facility in Uzbekistan.
As a result of Tarlon test news, TurDef reached the same source and learned what happened after the first Tarlon appeared. The source said that Nurol Makina has no involvement with copied Tarlon vehicle.
The Gazeta.uz opened the article for comments. A commentator who defended Tarlon wrote,
“Tarlon is an almost complete copy of the Turkish armoured vehicle Ejder Yalçın. The hood is only slightly changed compared to the original … Why pay the Turks to weld the hull to the finished chassis when the same can be done in Uzbekistan? The Chinese also developed their military production by copying foreign equipment.Today, Chinese equipment is used in many power structures of the world.”
