New Era of Powerpack Development Programme for Altay Tank

Undersecretary for Defence Industries, Prof. İsmail Demir and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tümosan Mr. Nuri Albayrak and many distinguished guests attended the signing ceremony at the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries premises.

Prof. İsmail Demir, Defense Industry Undersecretary  making a speech at the ceremony, pointing out that they did not want any foreign dependency at the end of the Powerpack Development  Project said, “You can use as many foreign workers, perform information transfer within the project but we want an independent system as a whole with all its details”. Prof. İsmail Demir, mentioning that the needs of the armed forces are trying to be met using domestic possibilities related to the geographical position that Turkey is in, said that the period of purchasing from abroad directly is over and that it is time to end the dependency abroad with a very powerful will and to move on in this direction. He spoke as, “Within this framework, what we call motor, transmission, power system is one of the most important elements of the system platforms and we want to eliminate the dependency abroad within this framework. We are moving in this direction at high speed very fast and we are going to continue doing this in a more sharp and solid manner. We are determined to take any measures against this from now on. We will go to the end in this. “

Prof. İsmail Demir: “We will eliminate foreign dependency in the powerpack group with this programme.” 

Stating that they give a lot of importance to this Project, Prof. Demir said that this programme is an important step in breaking the dependency in another area for Turkey. Reminding of the saying “How high the mountain is, a road will be found to overcome it” Prof. Demir said that they are very determined to overcome this path, seeing this determination in the company managers as well.

Prof. İsmail Demir, stating that they are determined to take every measure for this Project to be successful in a way which is more aggressive than the classical execution method, the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries continued his words as: “We do not wish any foreign dependency at the end of this Project. You can use as many foreign workers as you like during the Project, transfer information as much as you like. Motor is not only a motor, starting from the motor control unit until the details of the transmission system there is a set of sub-elements. If there is any foreign dependency in any one of these, it will mean that we could not break our dependency again. We want a system that is independent as a whole with all its details. At the end of the day, we want a system where we are fully in control, all its rights belonging to us, without any restrictions in front of us and I am especially underlining this”. 

Nuri Albayrak: “Our trust in the success of the Project is full”

Mr. Nuri Albayrak, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tümosan, also said that they are in an effort to acquire new products to the industry and develop motors and transmission units produced without deviating from the establishment philosophy of Tümosan, established in 1976, with the aim to produce domestic diesel motors and transmissions in Turkey that has started operating under the name Türk Motor Sanayi since the transfer in 2014. Mr.Albayrak, said that they believed that they are on the verge of a period that they will utilize and develop their abilities when the development of the “Altay” tank powerpack group came to their agenda using domestic possibilities at its maximum.

Mr. Albayrak, stating that the trust in the success of the Project is full, spoke as; “my firm and our group will not draw back from any sacrifice with this aim. After the finalization of the Project not only Tümosan but also Turkey will reach a level where we will all feel the honour of the development and production of the diesel motors and transmission. Under the scope of the experiences gained, it will be possible to meet primarily the other power groups the Turkish Armed Forces shall need in the future as well as those in the trade area”.

After the speeches performed Prof. İsmail Demir, Defense Industry Undersecretary and Mr. Nuri Albayrak Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tümosan, signed the powerpack group development programme agreement. 

Powerpack Development Programme will be completed in 54 months

As to the explanation made from the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries, an agreement was made with Tümosan under the scope of Powerpack Development Project with a value of 190 million Euros. The Project is expected to last 54 months in totality and it is planned to indigenously design, develop, produce the prototype, test and perform the qualifications of the power group to be used primarily for Altay Main Battle Tank using the existing possibilities and abilities at its maximum, obtaining foreign technical support if necessary, so that all rights of the power group belongs to Turkey. 

Tümosan General Manager Mr. Kurtuluş Öğün, attracting the attention to the fact that Tümosan will be responsible from the production of a prototype, its integration and qualification under this programme, said that they are aiming to produce the parts in Turkey at its maximum after the design and simulation activities during the explanation he made about the process to the press. During the contract negotiations, it was determined and mutually agreed by the parties that the industry participation (offset ratio) would be at  70% as its minimum and that 15% of this ratio would be transferred to SMEs.

First prototype on display in the year 2020

With the agreement entered into force, the Powerpack Development Programme calendar is targeted to be within two periods. As to the project calendar, design and development will be performed during the first period. Together with the first phase requirement definition, system pre-designing, critical design, subsystem, production and test phase it will consist of system integration and production phases. Tümosan General Manager Mr. Kurtuluş Öğün, giving information on the production date and related to the test phase of the prototype produced said; “We will test the first prototype produced in our facilities. Later we will test it on the “Altay” tank regularly. Under the scope of the Project, we are planning to realize the delivery of the first prototype at the beginning of the year 2020”. 

After the production of the prototype and the qualification process under the scope of the Project, the second period covering the serial production and usage will start.