Since the Turkish intervention in northern Syria in 2019, several European countries, including Germany, have embargoed Defense equipment and technologies that can be used by the Turkish armies in this conflict. This decision struck a blow to one of the flagship programs of the Turkish defense industry, the Altay heavy battle tank, as well as to President Erdogan himself, who is the most important promoter of the unprecedented industrial defense effort in Turkey. Indeed, the Altay had to embark, at least on the first series, an engine and a distribution of German origin, pending the arrival of a reliable national solution.
Fact, the program was stopped in its tracks, and none of the Altays to be delivered to the Turkish armies in 2020 were completed, nor were tanks of this type commanded by the Qatari ally. However, it seems that the problem is on the way to being resolved, according to a statement by BMC, which produces the Altay, which announced earlier this week that it had reached an agreement with South Korea for equipping the Turkish tank with a 1500 hp Doosan engine and an S&T Dynamics automatic transmission, the same ones which must equip the new South Korean K2 Black tank Panther. According to BMC, the final contract must be signed within the next 2 months, and will cover the delivery and assistance with the integration of the engine and automatic transmission on board the Altay, giving hope for delivery of the first copy in 18 months.
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[…] say standstill, pending a highly unlikely national solution, and more likely South Korea's progress in this area. Its entry into service, initially scheduled for 2018, is now scheduled for […]