By Ahmed Yusuf

DOHA, Qatar

New Turkish armored vehicles were unveiled for the first time Wednesday at the Doha International Maritime Defense Exhibition and Conference (DIMDEX 2018) now underway in Qatar.

Nurol Makina, a Turkish company, built the vehicles last year, later selling a number of them to Qatar.

Outfitted with rocket-launchers built by Turkey’s Aselsan corporation, the vehicles weigh eight tons each and are capable of carrying loads of up to four tons.

The region’s largest maritime-security and defense exhibition, DIMDEX 2018 kicked off Monday with 180 defense manufacturing firms -- from 60 countries -- taking part.

More than 30 Turkish companies are participating in this year’s exhibition, which will wrap up Wednesday evening.