Türkiye has officially started mass production of its new main battle tank, the “Altay,” at the Ankara plant of domestic automaker BMC, marking a major milestone in the country’s defence ambitions.

Fuat Tosyali, BMC’s chairman, said on Friday that the project fulfils a century-old Turkish aspiration. 

“Our factory has now begun mass production, after laying its foundations only last year — we expect it to meet the needs of the Turkish Armed Forces and allied countries in the defence industry,” he said.

Equipped with state-of-the-art technologies, the Altay is powered by the BATU engine, developed in-house by BMC Power, a subsidiary of BMC. 

The Ankara production facility employs industrial robots and advanced manufacturing techniques to handle every stage of production, from hull fabrication to final assembly.

‘No setbacks observed’

Tosyali noted that the BATU power group, with outputs ranging from 400 to 1,500 horsepower, must complete certain tests before deployment. 

“The power group needs to ‘run’ 10,000 kilometres and pass specific performance evaluations. So far, no setbacks have been observed, and all components, including air and defence systems, are being tested together with the tank,” he added.

In addition to the Altay, the facility will produce BMC’s next-generation eight-by-eight armoured combat vehicle, the Altug.

Türkiye’s Defense Industry Agency (SSB) President Haluk Gorgun praised the collaborative effort behind the project and confirmed that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has closely followed its progress. 

“The tanks we provided last year for testing demonstrated all their capabilities and passed successfully. Now that our factory is complete, we will produce and deliver our tanks directly to our forces,” Gorgun said.