A historical turning point was experienced in the Turkish defence industry. on Tuesday, 28 October 2025, with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the BMC Tank and New Generation Armoured Vehicles Production Facility was inaugurated and the First New ALTAY Tanks Delivery Ceremony was held in Kahramankazan.
Haluk Görgün, President of Defence Industries, stated that 96 ALTAY tanks will be produced annually with robotic welding systems in this 682 thousand square metre facility. “Every factory that rises in these lands is a new seal of full independence in the defence industry,” Görgün said, stressing that the facility is a concrete expression of Turkey’s unwavering faith in its engineering power, technological depth and strategic vision.
ALTAY: Not Just a Tank, but the Foundation of a Vision
Haluk Görgün underlined that domestic and national production, which was initially a target, is now a standard and a source of pride. “The ALTAY Project is not only a platform, but also a school that shapes the capabilities of our defence industry, ” said Görgün. In the project, the private sector, foundation companies, engineers and workers worked hand in hand to design and prepare for production their own main battle tank, which is the work of Turkish engineers. In this context, nearly 200 subcontractors, primarily ASELSAN, ROKETSAN and MKE, are taking part.
Indigenous Systems Forming the Power of the New ALTAY
The power of the new ALTAY tank, the first deliveries of which have been made, is provided by the national systems of Turkish defence industry giants.
ASELSAN Systems: ASELSAN systems in the first tanks delivered to BMC include critical technologies such as AKKOR-100 Active Protection System (AKS), BATUR-100 Tank Command Control Information System, VOLKAN 200/120 Fire Control System and SARP-100/12.7 Remote Controlled Weapon System (RCWS). These systems act as the brain and protection shield of the tank.
MKE’s Firepower: The combat power of the ALTAY is provided by the weapon systems produced by MKE. The main firepower of the tank consists of 120 mm 55 calibre Main Gun System, 7.62 mm Turret Coaxial Auxiliary Weapon System and 120 mm tank ammunition.
ROKETSAN’s Armour: With its new generation hybrid structure and optimised architecture, ALTAY’s protection is entrusted to the new generation reactive and composite armour systems developed by ROKETSAN Ballistic Protection Centre (BKM). ROKETSAN’s experience in developing both missile and armour systems has enabled it to offer more effective and lighter protection solutions for ALTAY.
From Foreign Dependency to Export Target
Görgün, President of Defence Industries, emphasised that critical subsystems, which had been procured from abroad, are now being produced in a stronger, more durable and smarter manner with domestic and national capabilities. Thanks to the ALTAY project, many new capabilities such as the ability to produce large calibre weapons and the ability to produce armour systems with composite materials have been gained.
the New ALTAY, on which a huge team of 800 engineers, 1250 workers and 90 subcontractors spent 17.5 million engineering hours, guarantees long-lasting success in the field with a 2-year warranty and 6-year logistics support.
