Production of Altay tank completed
Türkiye experinces its golden age in the defense industry. The production of Türkiye's first national tank, Altay, has been completed. TSK will finally test Altay, which has passed many tests abroad and has been approved. BMC Executive Board Member and Top Manager Murat Yalcintas said, "The production of Altay tank has been completed, we want to deliver it to the Turkish Armed Forces for testing on a holiday on April 23."
Türkiye continues its domestic and national breakthroughs in the defense industry. Stating that the production of the Altay tank has also been completed, Yalcintas said, "We want to deliver it to the Turkish Armed Forces for testing on April 23, on a feast day."
According to the news in Anadolu, BMC Defense is preparing to deliver the renewed and mass production Altay tank to the Turkish Armed Forces for tests on April 23.
BMC Executive Board Member and Top Manager Murat Yalcintas, BMC Defense General Manager Mehmet Karaaslan and BMC Power General Manager Mustafa Kaval gave information about the projects they carried out, especially the Altay Tank Project.
Here is the renewed 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 produced at the factory belong to the Presidency of Defense Industries.
Yalcıntas stated that, unlike the previous administration of BMC, they decided that Ankara is a more suitable place for the mass production of the Altay tank, instead of Sakarya-Karasu, "Karasu was an area allocated to BMC for 49 years. Transactions for the transfer of the land in Karasu to the state. We bought land in an organized industrial zone in Ankara, we will carry out the mass production of the Altay tank there."
Yalçıntaş stated that the Arifiye Facilities, whose operating rights have been transferred to BMC and are known as the "tank pallet factory" in the public, will continue their current work, and their production numbers and diversity will increase.
'ALTAY IS A BRAND NEW TANK'
Yalcintas, who also gave information about the current situation of the Altay Tank Project, said:
"While the localization of systems such as the power group that cannot be obtained from abroad continues, it took time to find a solution from another source and redesign the tank accordingly. This is completely The new Altay. The tank we have is not the old tank, the first designs of which were made in 2000. Because we had the opportunity to localize many parts in such a period of time.
"There have been many battles that the Turkish Armed Forces have observed and been involved in in about 20 years. Many lessons have been learned from these battles. Within the framework of these lessons, the tank many improvements have been made.
"There are many, many differences between the new Altay and the first Altay. It is a brand new tank. The bad neighbor made us the owner. There is currently another country's power group on it. All work has been done to provide this power group, permissions have been obtained , bureaucratic procedures have been completed. Tests have been made with this power group, te Stler passed successfully, the force group was also accepted by the Turkish Armed Forces.
"At the moment, there is no obstacle for the mass production of the Altay tank. The design work on the domestic power group is finished, prototypes are produced and tested. It is estimated that the tests will take 1.5-2 years. As of 2026, we are in a position to deliver our New Altay tank to the inventory of the Turkish Armed Forces with our local power group. There are currently requests from many friendly and allied countries. If the Ministry of National Defense deems it appropriate, we can export the Altay tank to friendly and allied countries."
NEW ALTAY WILL BE WORKED IN 2025
According to the information given by BMC Defense General Manager Mehmet Karaaslan, the New Altay tank with much 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, active protection system, improved armor system, renewed fire control system, renewed vehicle control system, concentrated power group (Korea), localized systems (speed reduction, gunner's 2nd degree sight system, track, turret ring gear) , fuel and hydraulic pumps, mobile concealment net, periscope, rotor).
Turkey's new 'Altay'
Driving tests of the new Altay tank were successfully completed by integrating the Korean power group into the Altay tank in the April-December 2022 period.
In April, 2 New Altay tanks will be rolled off with the Korean power group.
The tests of the Altay tank by the Turkish Armed Forces are expected to be completed in 2024. In 2025, mass production of the New Altay tank will begin with the Korean power group and the tank will be delivered to the Turkish Armed Forces.
It is planned to continue mass production of the Altay tank with a domestic engine from the second half of 2026.
(AA-İHA)