Turkey’s First Domestic-Made Main Battle Tank Enters Service, Erdogan Hails Defeat Of Embargoes

Turkey has officially delivered its first domestically produced Altay tanks to the armed forces, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced during the opening of the BMC Ankara Tank and New Generation Armored Vehicles Production Facility on Tuesday.

The Altay is the country’s first homegrown main battle tank, and is being mass-produced at the Ankara plant operated by Turkish automaker BMC.

Erdogan in remarks touted that the tanks underwent an extensive testing process, involving traversing over 20,000 miles and 3,700 testing iterations involving live-fire exercises, before being handed over to the military.

Erdogan further highlighted that the production facility, which Turkish media says spans over 63,000 square meters, will be capable of manufacturing eight Altay tanks and ten Altug armored vehicles each month.

There have been many years in the recent past which Turkey, despite having the second largest army in NATO, was under sanctions by European nations, particularly over its long-running war the the Kurdish PKK.

At the peak of Turkey and Kurdish violence in the 1990s and into the 2000s, and amid criticisms out of Europe, this incentivized Turkey to get more serious about ramping up its domestic defense sector.

“We continue to write a legend with our state-of-the-art air, land, and sea vehicles,” Erdogan said Tuesday. “We are no longer just a state that follows – we are a state that is followed.”

Erdogan alluded precisely to the question of international sanctions, saying the “goal with the Altay tank is to avoid dependency on critical materials.”

“We have reached this stage despite the embargoes, and God willing, we will successfully carry the process forward,” he said. “The obstacles placed in our path may slow us down, may delay us a little, but they will never prevent us from reaching our destination.”

Turkish media has featured some of the new Altay main battle tank’s specs and capabilities as follows:

• Aselsan has integrated multiple critical systems into the Altay. The VOLKAN-II tank fire control system provides precision targeting capabilities. The remote-controlled weapon system enables engagement of targets at extended ranges with accuracy.
• The tank command control information system establishes the tactical network backbone for the Altay platoon and company-level operations. The Internal Communication System ensures seamless crew coordination during combat operations.
• The tank laser warning system alerts crew members to laser-based targeting threats in real-time. The tank driver vision System provides the driver with enhanced situational awareness and visibility in all lighting conditions.
• Soldiers’ Second-Sight Vision Sub-Unit enhances gunner targeting accuracy and extended-range target identification capabilities.

More images of the country’s new line of armor in action…

Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan, “BMC Ankara Tank ve Yeni Nesil Zırhlı Araçlar Üretim Tesisi Açılışı ve İlk Yeni Altay Tankları Teslimat Töreni”nde Altuğ zırhlı aracı ve Yeni Altay Tankı’nın parkurda geçişini izledi https://t.co/YLtuOmu7ih pic.twitter.com/WaZvpUiy7q

— Anadolu Ajansı (@anadoluajansi) October 28, 2025