The Altay battle tank, designed and produced in Turkey, will enter service in the Turkish army in 2025 after having started the phase of mass production, as announced yesterday by the President of the Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB), Haluk Görgün, during a visit to the facilities of the Turkish defence firm BMC in Ankara.
‘This year, as promised, we will deliver our first mass-produced battle tanks to our heroic armed forces. Our current plans are to open our facilities in August and to begin and continue the production process for all our armoured vehicles,’ said Görgün, explaining that production will take place at a plant in the Kahramankazan district, north of the Turkish capital.
‘The Altay tank project is a high-tech platform. More than 600 companies are working on it. Of course, our main contractor, BMC, and companies such as Aselsan, Roketsan and Havelsan are collaborating,’ Görgün said. “After delivering three tanks in 2025, we will deliver a total of 85 battle tanks with the T1 configuration: 11 the following year (2026), and then 41 and 30 in the following years,” he told the Turkish media.
165 battle tanks in 2028
Thus, a total of 85 Altay battle tanks will be delivered in the first phase. But in addition, the delivery of 165 tanks of the T2 variant, more advanced, is planned for 2028. For the moment no date has been announced for the production of the T3 model, which would include an unmanned turret. Görgün also emphasised the growing importance of Turkey as an exporter of military land vehicles, pointing out that more than 4,500 vehicles of this type have been exported to about fifty countries.
The SSB president made these statements precisely coinciding with the signing yesterday of a contract with the Turkish defence firm FNSS to begin delivering the new Turkish next-generation armoured vehicles PARS ALPHA 8×8 and PARS ALPHA 6×6 to the Turkish Armed Forces, according to news agencies.
The first prototype of the Altay battle tank was presented more than a decade ago as part of the investments in defence of Turkey; it is a vehicle that stands out for incorporating technologies and capabilities based on the Turkish army’s experience in real combat, which improve detection, aiming and firing, increasing its accuracy and speed against enemy targets.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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