Otokar has started handing over the first Cobra II tactical armored vehicles built entirely at its Automecanica Mediaș facility to the Romanian Armed Forces.
The platform marks the first time the Turkish manufacturer has run full-scale production outside Türkiye, and it opens the door to a sprawling order of 1,059 vehicles.
Serial Production Is Officially Underway
With this milestone, the Mediaș plant has moved into full serial production. More than 780 of the vehicles Romania ordered are expected to roll off the line there over the next five years, and by the end of 2026 alone, Otokar plans to deliver 216 units across four different configurations.
We covered how Otokar reached this point in our earlier reporting on the Automecanica acquisition process and Otokar’s move into European production.
Otokar’s First EU Plant Is Running at Full Tilt
Automecanica Mediaș isn’t just an assembly line — it’s Otokar’s first manufacturing base inside the European Union, and it handles every stage of production, not merely final assembly. That gives Romania something it didn’t have before: the ability to build a 4×4 armored vehicle on its own soil, start to finish.
Yusuf Fettahlıoğlu, General Manager of Automecanica Mediaș, announced that the first vehicles built entirely at the plant left the factory gates the day before, bound for the Romanian Armed Forces.
The 140,000-square-meter facility has been fitted out to match the exact production standards Otokar uses at its plants back in Türkiye.
A “Regional Land Systems Hub” in the Making
Fettahlıoğlu made the case that this investment goes well beyond the production line itself. According to him, it hands Romania advanced manufacturing know-how, technology transfer, and engineering expertise that will pay off long after the current contract wraps up. He described the Mediaș plant as evolving into a regional hub for land systems — one capable of serving not just the Romanian military, but future export opportunities tied to NATO and EU defense programs.
A Modular Platform Already Serving 13 Countries
The Cobra II entered service back in 2013, and today more than 20 military and security organizations across 13 countries — including several NATO members — rely on it. For Romania specifically, Otokar is producing a range of variants: personnel carriers, reconnaissance vehicles, remote-controlled weapon station carriers, CBRN reconnaissance vehicles, and ambulances.
The Workforce Is Growing Too
The project has already left its mark on local employment. The plant’s headcount has passed 300, and as production picks up pace, Otokar expects that number to climb toward 400.
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Source: C4Defence
