Undisputed star of Eurosatory 2018, theTurkish heavy battle tank Atlay and its manufacturer, BMC, have experienced many difficulties since then, following European sanctions following the Turkish intervention in Syria, and the provocations of Ankara against Greece in the eastern Mediterranean. Indeed, the flagship program of the Turkish defense industry was therefore deprived of the components essential to its realization, the transmission and the turbo-diesel engine supplied by the Germans RENK and MTU, and the composite steel used for the French-made tank armor. Since then, the tank assembly line set up by BMC has been at a standstill, putting the company on the verge of bankruptcy, for lack of an alternative solution.
This solution seems to have been found in-extremis in Seoul, since according to the Turkish authorities, a strategic partnership would have been signed with the South Korean Minister of Defense Acquisition Programs or DAPA, Kang Eun-ho, to provide Ankara with the propulsion packs necessary for the realization of the T1 unit which was initially supposed to integrate European components. The Turkish Altay, already designed with the help of Seoul on the basis of K2 Black Panther, will therefore receive the V12 Infracore DV27K diesel engine from the Doosan company, and the S&T Dynamics EST15K transmission, identical to those which are to equip tranche 3 of Black Panther. It is likely that a similar solution concerning the composite alloy intended for the armor of the Altay has been found, this allowing BMC to see a way out to relaunch the production of the Altay for the Turkish armies but also Qatar .
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