The production agreement comprising the production of 250 ALTAY Main Battle Tanks, was signed among the Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB) and BMC Company.  President of Defence Industries Prof. İsmail DEMIR, General Staff Plans and Policies Department - Chief of Project Development and Resource Management Department Major General Reha Ufuk ER, Vice President of Defence Industries Celal Sami TÜFEKÇİ, Vice President of Defence Industries Mustafa ŞEKER, BMC Chairman of the Board Ethem SANCAK, BMC Member of the Board Talip ÖZTÜRK, ASELSAN President and CEO Prof. Haluk GÖRGÜN, Roketsan President Selçuk YAŞAR,  Deputy General Manager of the Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation Mehmet ÜNAL and many invitees attended the signing ceremony.

Head of the Land Platforms Department at SSB Ahmet Raci YALÇIN made a brief presentation prior to the signing ceremony. YALÇIN: “Within the scope of the ALTAY serial production program, as our Presidency, is the establishment of the serial production line, then the manufacture of 250 ALTAY MBTs; production of a powerpack group platform for testing the powerpack group which will be developed indigenously. On the other hand, we are aspiring to achieve the development of the design and manufacture of an unmanned turreted ALTAY Main Battle Tank configuration as promptly and practically as possible, as well as providing logistical support in a way to fulfil all requirements of our tanks after they enter the inventory.  In addition, we look forward to the establishment of a Tank Systems Technology Center in order to be equipped with new technologies for our tanks. To this end, within the scope of the project to be carried out by our Presidency, our General Staff, Ministry of National Defence and Land Forces Command,  Aselsan will be developing the electronic systems, fire control system and active protection system, the main weapon system will be developed by the Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKEK) and the armor system will be developed by Roketsan as well as Havelsan to develop the simulators regarding these systems in coordination with the main contractor BMC Company.”

SSB Land Platforms Department Head Ahmet Raci YALÇIN: “We will be manufacturing the first ALTAY Tank in the 18th month; delivery schedule of the 40 ALTAY T1 Tanks package will be accomplished in the 24th month”

YALÇIN said that as part of the Period-I - Development Program, PV-1 and PV-2 tank prototypes were developed and manufactured and added  “Within the scope of the serial production program, at the first stage we aim to manufacture the 40 ALTAY T1 configuration tanks that will be equipped with the active protection system and additional armor units, pursuant to the first stage, the rest of the 210 ALTAY T2 configuration will be equipped with state-of-art advanced armor systems, laser guided tank gun firing capability and mobile camouflage net. We will be developing the Unmanned ALTAY T3 configuration as part of our project as well. We will be manufacturing and developing our first tank in the 18th month (To+18) and launch into our tests. Afterwards, the delivery schedule of the 40 ALTAY T1 configuration will be commenced as of the 24th month, and the delivery of the 210 T2 configuration will be launched as of the 49th month.” 

BMC Chairman of the Board Ethem SANCAK said, “With the meticulous activities of our Presidency of Defence Industries, we passed a serious test with our stakeholders. As we applied for this project, we have incorporated a partnership with a notable international company, thinking that our capacity would not be sufficient. However, in the current process, we have figured out the Presidency and the Turkish Armed Forces requested us to manufacture an entirely unique and national tank. As a result of the evaluation process, we dissolved this partnership; they will be merely providing consultancy services to our company. Their reason of withdrawal from this project was that they find this project not profitable. We are aware of the fact that this is a very critical task. We will absolutely achieve this assignment. I wish the best of luck.” 

In his speech at the ceremony, President of Defence Industries Prof. İsmail DEMİR said: “Within the scope of the development of the defence industry in Turkey, when the cornerstone projects are mentioned, the ALTAY Main Battle Tank was counted in the first instance. Without doubt, we went through an intense process throughout prototype development. In the phase-I development program, with the contributions of the main contractor Otokar and other sub-contractors Aselsan, MKEK, various foreign contractors and our other stakeholders, a prototype was revealed, and this prototype went through long duration tests. The endurance of the tank, firing accuracy, and its performance in various ammunitions were tested under the test centers in different climate conditions. All these tests were closely monitored by our Presidency and the staff of the Turkish Armed Forces. I closely witnessed that even minor deviations and points to be revised were precisely followed for achieving a perfect prototype. However, nowadays, where new technology emerges, retrofit activities will appear on the agenda again regarding the first 40 tanks as well as rest of the 210 tanks package. The public opinion has been wondering for so long regarding the serial production stage. We concluded the phase-I tender. We found that the main contractor company’s bid given in line with the contract was insufficient at that tender. So, we have initiated an open tender again. As a result of the open tender, BMC Company has secured a tender as the main contractor with a very competitive price. During that process and in the aftermath, the sub-contractors, our main contractor, and our Presidency and staff of our armed forces conducted extensive activities over all details of the agreement and on its execution. This contract that is going to be inked of today, is the result of a study in which all parties optimized themselves to the maximum extent in order to reveal a cost-efficient tank. I would like to declare that as our Presidency we will be providing full support to various technology items to be revealed and we will be doing our best to achieve a tank equipped with the state of art technology. Today, while the components existing in the prototype or the ones in the existing technology are being integrated to our tank, if a point related with the development of a new technology comes up on the agenda after 30 months, our government will also provide support at that point, I would like to underline that as well.“

T3 Configuration of the ALTAY Tank to be a Designed and Developed Unmanned Turreted

The serial production agreement comprises the establishment of the assembly line, manufacturing of 250 ALTAY MBTs, manufacturing of the power-pack group platform, unmanned turret ALTAY design, development and production, providing life cycle support to products and the establishment and operation of the Tank Systems Technology Center. According to the contract, the first T1 configuration tank will be delivered in the 18th month (To+18). Delivery of the 40 T1 packages that will be equipped with the AKKOR Active Protection System and the additional armor units developed by Roketsan, will be launched from the 24th month (To+24). The remaining 210 T2 configurations will be equipped with additional capabilities such as advanced armor system, laser guided tank gun firing capability, crew training mode and mobile camouflage net. The delivery schedule of the T2 configuration will start at the 49th month. At the third stage of the project, the unmanned turreted new configuration ALTAY tank dubbed as T3 configuration will be designed, developed and manufactured