Turkish defence companies FNSS Savunma Sistemleri and Aselsan have displayed the jointly produced Claw remote-controlled turret (RCT) in public for the first time.

Claw RCT can be fitted to a wide range of AFVs, either as original equipment or as an upgrade. Ammunition for weapons can be reloaded from inside the vehicle under full armour protection

Development of the Claw RCT (known as 'Pence' in Turkey) for home and export markets commenced in 2008 and is privately funded. A prototype was completed in early 2011 and shown at the IDEF exhibition in Istanbul in May.

Development of the Claw RCT (known as 'Pence' in Turkey) for home and export markets commenced in 2008 and is privately funded. A prototype was completed in early 2011 and shown at the IDEF exhibition in Istanbul in May.

Claw is suitable for installation on a wide range of tracked and wheeled armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs), either as original equipment or to enhance the firepower of older platforms.

The prototype is armed with Rheinmetall Italy's stabilised 25 mm KBA dual-feed cannon, which is provided with 160 rounds (80+80) of ready-use ammunition. The empty cartridge cases are ejected outside the turret. The KBA cannon has a maximum cyclic rate of fire of 600 rds/min and the gunner can select single-shot or burst modes of fire.

A 7.62 mm MG3 machine gun (MG) is mounted coaxially with the KBA cannon on the right-hand side of the RCT and is provided with 200 rounds of ready-use ammunition. The gun is electromechanically cocked from the user interface within the hull.

A key feature of Claw is that ammunition for both of these weapons can be reloaded from within the platform under full armour protection.

A bank of four 76 mm grenade launchers is mounted either side of the turret towards the rear, but these could be replaced by grenade launchers of other calibres, such as the Russian 81 mm or US 66 mm.

Turret traverse is all-electric through 360 degrees, with weapon elevation from -10 degrees to +50 degrees.

The electro-optics (EO) and fire-control system (FCS) have been developed by Aselsan and are integrated into the left side of the forward part of the turret.

A meteorological sensor is mounted on the turret roof towards the rear and feeds information to the FCS, which has a full ballistic computation capability.

The dual-axis stabilised EO package includes an 8-12 µm thermal camera with wide and narrow fields of view, a day camera and a laser rangefinder. This enables the platform to engage targets in most weather conditions with a high first-round hit probability.

The 25 mm KBA cannon is electronically slaved to the sight and an automatic target tracker is fitted as standard. The second version of Claw is intended to have an independent commander's sight on the roof to provide a hunter/killer capability.

The weapons are laid onto the target by the gunner from within the hull of the platform using a flat-panel display with controllers for left and right hand. This display could also be used to provide images from cameras mounted around the vehicle as well as information from a battle management system.

The turret shell is made of all-welded aluminium armour with add-on steel armour, providing ballistic protection to STANAG 4569 Level 2 standard. This can be increased to Level 3 if required.

The baseline Claw's low weight of 1,700 kg enables it to be fitted to a much wider range of platforms than conventional manned turrets fitted with a basket. The latter takes up considerable internal volume and reduces the number of troops that can be carried when the platform is being used in the armoured personnel carrier role, for example.

The prototype Claw RCT was shown integrated onto the FNSS Armoured Combat Vehicle - Stretched (ACV-S), which is already in service with two export customers.

Firing trials will be carried out in Turkey in the second half of 2011 with the Claw integrated onto the latest-generation FNSS Pars (6x6) Wheeled Armoured Combat Vehicle (WACV) and the ACV-S tracked vehicle.

While the prototype Claw is armed with the 25 mm KBA cannon, a number of other weapons could be installed in this turret, including the ATK 25 mm M242 and 30 mm Mk 44 cannon or the Mauser 30 mm MK 30-2 with its air-bursting munition capability.

Claw can also be integrated onto the baseline FNSS ACV as well as the Pars (8x8) WACV that has been ordered by Malaysia.

Russia National Technology Group representative in Argentina, Anatoly Zuev said: Uruguay decided to buy a lots of Russian multi-task armored cars "Tiger".

According to Anatoly Zuev, the contract Russian and Uruguay signed on 28 / 4 past is high political nature.

"Currently, Uruguay Ministry of Interioris especially need this car to fight drug trafficking", the representative Russia National Technology Group said.

However, he didn't specify the total contract value and the quantity of vehicles that Russia'll provide for the partner.

Although this vehicle has undergone trials in Brazil but for at the moment there isn't still any contract between the two countries. Therefore, the Russian representative said, Uruguay is the first country in Latin America lead in the procurement of armored cars "Tiger".

Over 10 years of technical defense cooperation - between Russia and Uruguay, two countries have signed dozens of contracts to transfer weapons. However, "Tiger" vehicle purchased contract is the first contract which Uruguay signed with Russian Interior Ministry.

Armored cars "Tiger" Gaz-2330 is capable of accelerating to 140km / h, which can carry 6-9 people or 12 tons of useful load. Car team can fight with personal weapons from opening door on the roof or through holes on the sides of doors.

Price per unit "Tiger" Gaz-2330 which manufactured from 2005 up to $ 300,000.

Motor Sich company (Ukraine) signed new contracts with China relating to repair aircraft engines RD-93.

The above information was revealed by Mr. Albert Loginoc, head of international cooperation of Motor Sich.

Under the agreement, Ukraine will support Chengdu Aircraft Group repair parts of the RD-93 engine and overhauled in the future, all the work will be in China.

A source in the Motor Sich said, China has not the equipment and facilities to repair the engine of Russia. Therefore, the first RD-93 can be sent to Ukraine to repair.

These events also confirm previous speculation that China will forced to ask Ukraine's help to repair RD-93.

According to some sources, Motor-Sich has permit repair of RD-series 33-2 production and between the two engine variants have no major differences.

Motor-Sich has started helping China to repair the AL-31F in 1992. Currently, the Motor-Sich's plant has trained professionals and technical workers in China. They are aggressively researching technological for repairing and testing the AL-31F.

In the future, this cooperation can not be sustained. A source at Migremont - unit provides chassis repair services and Avionics equipment (aviation electronics) for the Su-27 aircraft in China - revealed that the business relationships with China in has ceased, when China achieved progress in the repair of Russia' aircraft.

Non-stop therein, China is trying to find a contract to provide repair services for the Su-27 aircraft of Indonesia. That means China has become the rival of Ukraine in the field repair service and maintenance on the world market.

About two years ago, Kanwa get accurate information to say that China has progress in copying the Russia's RD-33 engines and undertaked by United Guizhou Aviation Company .

Though the information is not confirmed by these companies, but an article on the China Aviation magazine 7 / 2007 has attracted the attention of Kanwa. According to Kanwa, this article refers to RD-33 copy.

According to the article, Guizhou Aviation Engine Research Institute has conducted the work called "five comparisons" and focus on two types of aircraft engines.

Policy "five comparisons" is this company compare their design with the foreign samples on 5 aspects including design, production technology, production and testing (copying products), compared with the original model (import) and technical information from foreign countries.

Specifically, these include comparisons designs and foreign information, design drawings and the original model, production technology and technical information of foreign countries, production technology and the design parameters, and finally the test product is compared with the design parameters.