Altay (tank)

Altay
Altay
	Altay T1
Type	Main battle tank
Place of origin	Turkey
Service history
In service	2025 (expected)
Used by	Turkish Land Forces
Production history
Designer	Otokar (design and development including prototypes); Hyundai Rotem (design assistance and transfer of technology); BMC (main contractor and responsible for further developments); Aselsan (sub-systems and fire control system); MKEK (main gun system); Hyundai WIA (transfer of 120 mm 55 caliber smoothbore gun production technology); Roketsan (armor package); Samyang Comtech (technology transfer of armor package); Poongsan Corporation (armor package design assistance); HAVELSAN
Designed	2008–2016
Manufacturer	BMC
Unit cost	USD $13.75 million
Produced	2024–present
No. built	5 + 2 prototypes. 2 prototypes are delivered to TAF out of 100 units, remaining 98 are expected to be delivered after 2025. 250 planned in the first stage
Specifications
Mass	65 tonnes (72 short tons; 64 long tons)
Length	7.3 metres (24 ft) (hull), 10.3 metres (34 ft) (gun forward)
Width	3.9 metres (13 ft)
Height	2.6 metres (8.5 ft)
Armor	Tank armor: Roketsan armor package including composite armor modified based on Korean Special Armor Plate (KSAP); Active protection system: Aselsan AKKOR equipped with both hard kill and soft kill functionalities along with electronic warfare (EW) computer ; (In development);
Main; armament	MKE 120 mm smoothbore tank gun
Secondary; armament	1 × Remote controlled weapon station equipped with 12.7 mm / 7.62 mm machine gun; 1 x 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun
Engine	Lot 1: HD Hyundai Infracore DV27K 4-long stroke, 12-cylinder water-cooled diesel, dry weight: 2550 kg; 1,500 hp (1,110 kW) ; Lot 2: BMC Power BATU V12 4-short stroke, 12-cylinder water-cooled diesel ; 1,500 hp (1,100 kW)
Power/weight	23 hp/t (17.15 kW/t)
Transmission	Lot 1: SNT Dynamics EST15K (6 forward, 3 reverse gears), dry weight: 2500 kg ; Lot 2: BMC Power BATU V12 Cross Drive (6 forward, 2 reverse gears)
Suspension	Non-active in-arm suspension unit (ISU) with automatic track tension system (ATTS)
Operational; range	450 kilometres (280 mi)(Altay T1 with 1,500 hp engine)
Maximum speed	On road: 65 km/h (40 mph) ; Off road: 45 km/h (28 mph) (Altay T1 with 1,500 hp engine)

Altay (English: Red foal/colt or Altai) is a Turkish fourth generation main battle tank designed by Otokar based on South Korean K2 Black Panther to be produced by BMC under design assistance and technology transfer by Hyundai Rotem. It is named in honor of Army General Fahrettin Altay who commanded the 5th Cavalry Corps in the final stage of the Turkish War of Independence. With a unit cost of 13.75 million dollars, the tank design cost is on par with and competitive when compared with relative projects. The first mass production of Altay will be combined with MKE made 55 calibre 120 mm main gun, Roketsan made both advanced composite and reactive armor package along with Aselsan made electronics such as active protection, remote controlled weapon and fire control systems while using HD Hyundai Infracore engine and SNT Dynamics transmission. The tank is in production according to the Turkish media.

According to the latest information published on January 2, 2025, mass production of the Altay officially began in May 2024 and the tank is set to enter the Turkish Army’s inventory starting in August 2025.