Ankara: Trkiye has delivered the first indigenous Altay tanks to its armed forces, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Tuesday at the opening ceremony of the BMC Ankara Tank and New Generation Armored Vehicles Production Facility. The Altay is Trkiye’s new main battle tank, and its mass production is carried out at the Ankara plant of Turkish automaker BMC.
According to Anadolu Agency, Erdogan said the tanks completed a 35,000-kilometer (nearly 21,750-mile) testing program and 3,700 live-fire exercises before being handed over to the military. The president added that the Altay tank, upgraded with advanced systems, is designed to withstand the toughest battlefield conditions.
He also highlighted Trkiye’s mass production line, which spans 63,000 square meters, stating it will produce eight Altay tanks and 10 Altug armored vehicles each month. ‘We continue to write a legend with our state-of-the-art air, land, and sea vehicles,’ Erdogan said. ‘We are no longer just a state that follows; we are a state that is followed.’
Erdogan emphasized Trkiye’s aim to keep Altay tank production independent, particularly for critical materials, and vowed to continue progressing despite past embargoes. He mentioned that Trkiye’s foreign dependence in defense is now below 20%, with security forces meeting nearly all their needs through domestic vehicles and equipment. He highlighted that the country has more than 1,400 defense projects, ranks among the top three global producers of unmanned aerial vehicles, and supplied 65% of the world’s UAVs to 180 countries in 2024.
The president added that the Leopard 2A4 modernization project is planned for delivery next year alongside the Altay. The ceremony was also attended by Qatari Defense Minister Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, who is on an official visit to Ankara. Erdogan thanked BMC, the Presidency of Defense Industries, all workers involved in the facility’s construction, and Qatar for their partnership. Sheikh Saoud praised the Trkiye-Qatar defense partnership, stating: “Today we witness a strong collaboration between Trkiye and Qatar. We are proud that this partnership has put the Altay tank, produced domestically by BMC in Trkiye, into service.”