Turkey has launched mass production of its new main battle tank, the Altay, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported, after years of political controversy and technical delays that turned the project into a symbol of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s influence over the defense industry.
The Altay, which is being assembled at the Ankara factory of Turkish automaker BMC, is powered by a domestically developed engine known as BATU. BMC officials said the tank has entered production following years of prototype testing and that the vehicle will be delivered to the Turkish Armed Forces as well as marketed to allied countries.
BMC Chairman Fuat Tosyalı told Anadolu that the company had realized “a century-old dream” by starting serial production. He said the factory will also produce the Altug, a new eight-wheeled armored vehicle, and that the engine program still requires thousands of kilometers of endurance testing before it can be fully deployed.
Haluk Görgün, head of the government’s Presidency of the Defense Industry (SSB), said the project was closely followed by Erdoğan himself, describing daily meetings on its progress. “What matters most for us is that this factory has now begun mass production,” he said.
A project marred by politics
The Altay program dates back to 2008, when Turkish defense contractor Otokar, working with Germany’s MTU for the tank’s engine, produced four prototypes under a $500 million government contract. By 2016 Otokar had submitted bids to build an initial batch of 250 tanks, but its proposal was judged too costly.
Rather than award the contract to Otokar, Erdoğan directed it toward BMC, a company with close ties to his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). BMC had been purchased in 2014 by businessman Ethem Sancak, an Erdoğan ally, with additional investment from Qatari partners and a relative of Erdoğan.
In 2018 BMC secured the multibillion-dollar contract to produce the Altay, despite its lack of prior experience with heavy tanks. The deal also granted BMC the right to operate a state-owned tank factory in Arifiye, near Istanbul, free of charge for 25 years.
Critics say Erdoğa used the Altay to reward political allies, prioritizing business interests over the requirements of the military. Fatih Yurtsever, a former Turkish naval officer now living in exile, wrote in 2022 that corruption and favoritism in the bidding process caused years of unnecessary delay.
Engine troubles
Technical problems compounded the controversy. The original German supplier, MTU, halted cooperation with BMC due to a German arms embargo on Turkey after its cross-border military operations in Syria. That forced Ankara to seek alternatives in South Korea, whose firms Doosan and S&T Dynamics agreed to provide engines and transmissions in 2021.
Even then, co-production stalled, and Turkey began negotiating the import of up to 100 Korean power packs directly. The new BATU engine developed by BMC Power is now being tested as a fully domestic option, though defense experts caution that it must still prove itself reliable over thousands of kilometers and years of service.