ISTANBUL — Turkey launched serial production of its Altay main battle tank this week, delivering the first two units to the Turkish Armed Forces during the opening of BMC’s Ankara Tank and New Generation Armored Vehicle Production Facility.
According to BMC Chairman Fuat Tosyalı, the new facility is designed for a monthly output of eight Altay tanks and around ten 8×8 Altuğ armored vehicles, thanks to modular production lines that can be reconfigured for different platforms.
The planned capacity equals up to 96 Altay tanks per year, a figure confirmed by Defense Industries Agency (SSB) President Haluk Görgün.
More than 1,500 engineers and technicians are expected to work at the site, while Görgün cited a broader industrial ecosystem of about 800 engineers, 1,250 workers, and 90 subcontractors supporting the program. Each Altay will be delivered with a two-year warranty and six years of logistical support, he added.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said deliveries of Altay tanks would begin this year and increase in the coming years, while the ongoing modernization of Leopard 2A4 tanks for the Turkish Land Forces will continue in parallel.
The tank’s development and qualification phase involved more than 1.5 million engineering hours, 35,000 kilometers of mobility testing, and 3,700 live-fire trials, Erdoğan said. The Altay weighs 65 tons, has a maximum speed of 65 km/h on paved roads and 45 km/h off-road.
Major Turkish defense contractors Aselsan, Havelsan, Roketsan, and MKE are key partners in the project. The integration of local subsystems such as Aselsan’s AKKOR active protection system and indigenous fire-control and electronic systems were highlighted as part of the broader localization effort.
The Altay is armed with a 120mm L55-caliber smoothbore main gun, a coaxial 7.62mm machine gun, and a remote-controlled weapon station mounting either a 12.7mm or 7.62mm machine gun.
The first 85 tanks will be powered by a South Korean-made engine and transmission, while subsequent units will transition to BMC Power’s indigenous BATU power pack starting around 2026 or 2027.
Development of the Altay began in the late 2000s under a contract awarded to Otokar, which produced several prototypes before the project transitioned to BMC in 2018 for mass production.
A total of 250 Altay tanks are planned for production under the initial order. The Altay will gradually replace aging Leopard 1 and M60 tanks in the Turkish Army, becoming the backbone of the country’s armored forces into the 2030s.
Cem Devrim Yaylali is a Turkey correspondent for Defense News. He is a keen photographer of military ships and has a passion for writing about naval and defense issues. He was born in Paris, France, and resides in Istanbul, Turkey. He is married with one son.
