First Serial Altay Tanks Roll Off Assembly Line — Modifications and Planned Production

The Turkish company BMC has officially started serial production of the Altay main battle tank and transferred the first vehicles to the Turkish Land Forces Command.

Savunma Sanayi media outlet reported on this.

The production facility was formally opened, after which the first serial units rolled off the assembly line.

According to the company, the plant has the capacity to produce up to 96 tanks per year, with plans to increase this figure in the future.

The first 85 Altay T1 tanks are equipped with South Korean-made engines and transmissions.

Turkey plans to later switch to the domestically produced 1,500-horsepower BATU engine with a transmission developed by BMC Power.

Tanks with this configuration will receive the Altay T2 designation.

It was previously reported that serial production of the Altay was launched in early September 2025.

Altay

The first prototype of the Altay main battle tank was presented at a defense exhibition in Istanbul in 2011. The vehicle was developed by Otokar, which started its work on the project in 2008 and produced four prototypes under contract.

The Altay has a combat weight of about 60 tons. Its main armament is a 120 mm smoothbore gun, supported by a remote-controlled 12.7 mm machine gun on the turret and a coaxial 7.62 mm machine gun.

The tank is equipped with ceramic armor similar to that used on the K2 Black Panther.

The power plant remained a key issue for years. Turkey considered German, Ukrainian, and South Korean engine options, but in 2021 introduced the domestic BATU 1,500 hp engine developed by BMC Power.

In November 2018, the Turkish Defense Industry Directorate signed a contract with BMC for serial production of 250 Altay tanks in two stages: 85 Altay T1 tanks in the first stage, followed by 165 Altay T2 tanks with improved characteristics.

Turkey ultimately plans to produce up to 1,000 tanks of all variants to meet domestic needs and export orders.