Türkiye’s renewed main battle tank Altay ready for army tests

BMC Defense, responsible for developing Türkiye’s long-awaited
main battle tank (MBT) Altay, is preparing to deliver the revamped
tank, which has reached the mass production stage, to the Turkish
Armed Forces (TSK) for tests on April 23, Azernews reports citing Daily Sabah.

The tests of the Altay tank by the TSK are expected to be
completed in 2024. In 2025, mass production of the tank will begin
with the Korean power group, and it is planned to continue mass
production of the Altay tank with a domestic engine in the second
half of 2026.

BMC Executive Board Member and Manager Murat Yalcintas, BMC
Defense General Manager Mehmet Karaaslan and BMC Power General
Manager Mustafa Kaval recently commented on the company’s projects,
including the Altay tank.

Stating that BMC Defense, which will produce the Altay tank, is
a 100% Turkish company, Yalcintas said that the intellectual
property rights of the Altay tank and engines made at the factory
belong to the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB).

Yalçıntaş said that the tank had undergone significant changes
since its first design in the 2000s, with many parts now localized
and improvements made based on lessons learned from battles in the
last two decades. As a result, despite some delays due to the
localization of specific systems, including the power group, the
tank is now fully equipped and approved for mass production.

Yalçıntaş further stated that while a foreign power group is
being used, the design work on a domestic power group is complete,
and prototypes have been tested. The expected time frame for
testing and implementation is 1.5-2 years, with the intention to
deliver the new Altay tank with a local power group to the TSK by
2026.

There has been interest from several friendly and allied
countries in acquiring the Altay tank, Yalcintas said, expressing
openness to exporting the tank pending approval from the Ministry
of National Defense.

BMC Defense General Manager Karaaslan also said that the new
Altay tank with many superior capabilities emerged after the
localization and additional capabilities made on the Altay tank
prototypes produced in 2014 due to the German export license
obstacle.

Among the new capabilities added to the new Altay tank are an
active protection system, improved armor system, renewed fire
control system, renewed vehicle control system, concentrated power
group, localized systems (speed reduction, gunner’s second-degree
sight system, track, turret ring gear), fuel and hydraulic pumps,
mobile concealment net, periscope and rotor.

Driving tests of the new Altay tank were completed by
integrating the Korean power group into the Altay tank in the
April-December 2022 period.

In April, two New Altay tanks will be rolled off with the Korean
power group.

Karaaslan, also speaking on the company’s other projects, said
the modernization of the 81 Leopard 2A4 tanks had been started in
addition to the work on the Altay tank. He said the pre-contract
work for the tank rescue and mine clearance tank projects to be
built on the Altay platform continues. Likewise, the production of
140 new-generation Storm Howitzers and, accordingly, the filling
vehicle Poyraz is also ongoing.

While the Altuğ 8×8 armored personnel carrier is ready for duty,
preparations for the Next Generation Tracked Vehicles Project
continue.

Work on the systems that need to be localized on the Altay tank
has been completed to a large extent.

The next-generation Storm Howitzer, produced by BMC Defense,
gained additional capabilities in terms of survivability and
firepower compared to the previous platform. Foreign dependency in
domestic and national subsystems has been reduced and it is
expected the howitzers will be powered by domestic engines after
2025.

BMC Power’s Kaval, for his part, said that they have
self-sourced work on the hybrid power group.

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