İsmail Demir, President of Turkey’s Presidential Defense Industry, provided new information on the efforts of local and national products to join the weapons inventory of the security forces. The Presidency of Defense Industries is a civil institution which oversees Turkey’s defense industry and facilitating procurement for the Turkish military, İsmail Demir has been the head of the agency since April 2014. The new information provided by Demir to the ‘Anadolu Agency‘, confirms that the number of 5.56×45mm infantry rifles produced in Turkey has exceeded 65,000 to date.
Demir told Anadolu Agency that:
“…Türk savunma sanayisi olarak şu anda bütün dünyanın uğraştığı yeni tip koronavirüs (Kovid-19) salgınıyla mücadele ederken dahi bütün güvenlik tedbirlerini en üst seviyede uygulayarak çalışmalarını sürdürdüklerini söyledi.”[1]“…as for the Turkish defense industry, they are continuing their work by applying all security measures at the highest level, even while fighting the new type of coronavirus (Kovid-19) outbreak that the world is currently dealing with.”
The 5.56×45mm weapons produced constitute two main models: the MPT-55 and the MPT-55K, the carbine variant of the MPT-55 with a 11in barrel – optimised for use in urban and confined space. Full specifications for the two rifles can be seen below.
The Turkish military is procuring the new MPT-55 rifles to replace their older locally-produced HK33 rifles. The MKEK produced MPT-55 rifles, however, are not the only 5.56×45mm self-loading rifles currently produced in Turkey. Other 5.56×45mm rifles produced for the security forces include the SAR223, produced by Sarsılmaz, and the KCR-556 rifles, produced by Kalekalıp. However, the vast majority of these 65,000 5.56×45mm rifles procured by the Turkish government are MPT-55 service rifles.
All of the rifles are in essence AR-15/M16 pattern rifles using short-strike gas piston to cycle their actions. The key area of difference is the furniture and the profiles of the upper and lower receivers.
While İsmail Demir did not give an exact number of rifles delivered by the various manufacturers we do know that MKEK has delivered over 33,000 MPT-55 and 8,000 MPT-55K rifles to the Turkish Armed Forces, as of October 2019. Up to October 2019, the number of KCR556 rifles delivered by Kalekalıp was is reportedly 500, while the number of SAR223, delivered by Sarsılmaz, is believed to be slightly more than 2000. In other words, the total number of 5.56×45mm self-loading rifles delivered exceeds 43,500. [2]
According the Anadolu Agency their rifle is a short-stroke gas piston-driven variant of the Sarsılmaz SAR 223, the SAR 223T, this was reportedly developed at the request of law enforcement. The rifle is preferred because it is believed it will work better in harsh environments and require less maintenance.
From October 2019, through to 26th April, 2020, approximately 22,500 weapons have been delivered to Turkish Armed Forces, taking the number of rifles delivered to over 65,000. In addition to these, the Turkish Army’s new 7.62×51mm self-loading rifles, the MPT-76, are produced under contract by MKEK, Sarsilmaz and Kalekalıp – as yet, however, it appears that the MPT-55 is produced only by MKEK.
At this time there is no definitive figure for how many 5.56×45mm self-loading rifles the Turkish military will procure, however, Demir noted that:
“MKEK, Kalekalıp ve Sarsılmaz’ın ürettiği 5,56 milimetre piyade tüfeği sayısı toplamda 65 bini geçti. Şartlar ne olursa olsun savunma sanayimiz tedbirlerini alarak üretimlerine devam edecek.[3]
Which roughly translates to ‘the total number of 5.56×45mm infantry rifles produced by MKEK, Kalekalıp and Sarsılmaz has exceeded 65,000 and regardless of conditions [likely a reference to the current COVID-19 pandemic] production will continue.’
Sources:
- ‘National rifle delivery exceeded 65 thousand’, Anadolu Agency, G. Yildirim,
26/04/2020, <https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/bilim-teknoloji/milli-tufek-teslimati-65-bini-gecti/1818904> - ‘National rifle delivery from 3 arms’, Anadolu Agency, G. Yildirim,
10/25/2019, <https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/bilim-teknoloji/3-koldan-milli-tufek-teslimati/1625870> - ‘Defense Industry President Demir announced: National rifle delivery exceeded 65 thousand’, Yeni Safak, 04/26/2020, <https://www.yenisafak.com/ekonomi/savunma-sanayi-baskani-demir-acikladi-milli-tufek-teslimati-65-bini-gecti-3536589>
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Hello,
I followed the Turkish trend of manufacturing domestic HK416/SIG516 inspired assault rifles a bit. My understanding is, that the Sarsilmaz SAR223 T is the direct impingement version and resembles a free floating tactical handguatd AR15. The Sarsilmaz SAR223 C is a classic M4 clone. This was the first AR from Sarsilmaz. Rumor has it, that Sarsilmaz produced earlier M4 for Turkish mil/le customers under license. From which foreign manufacturer the licence was obtained, if this is true, is not know. The Sarsilmaz SAR223 T was shown to the public at the IDEF show 2013 to my knowledge. 2019 the SAR223 P was shown at IDEF and it was reported 2500 were purchased by the armed forces. But the ignigtion to design the SAR223 P was to have an replacement for the 20.000 Sig516s of the gendarmerie.
From the Kale Kcr556 2500 were bougth from the police and 500 from the armed forces.
Zigana also started making the ZPT762 and ZPT556. I don’t know about any Zigana customers or sales yet.