The Ukrainian War revealed how quickly contemporary military strategies and tools need to be updated. Especially with the entry of drones into the field, a new era has begun in which giant million-dollar tanks can become defenseless against thousand-dollar small aircraft.

This situation brings to mind: “Is the era of tanks over?” Although it raises the question, the truth of the matter is much different. No matter what the weapon is, if it is not always updated in the field and you do not take precautions according to the steps of the other side, you cannot avoid becoming obsolete.

It would be a big mistake to say that tanks have lost their value as a concept under current conditions. When you want to take control of an area or project a striking force onto the area, the protection and firepower offered by tanks still remain unalterable.

However, systems produced with the old generation defense logic and not modernized against today’s air threats are being erased from the field one by one. Therefore, it has become a necessity not only to increase the armor thickness of tanks but also to equip them with smart defense systems.

Türkiye’s Tank Inventory and Modernization Needs

When we look at Turkey’s land forces inventory, we see a very large and numerous tank force. Models such as the Leopard series and M60 are always tried to be kept up to date with comprehensive modernization projects carried out in different periods.

However, ever-changing threats in the field pushed us to produce a new generation main battle tank that is much more local and under our control in every detail.

At this point, the Altay project was born as a vision that would fully comply with Türkiye’s own geographical rules and military requirements.

Embargoes and technical difficulties encountered in Altay’s production adventure, especially in power group systems such as engine and transmission, caused the process to take longer than planned.

However, on the one hand, this delay also allowed the tank to be redesigned with the most current technologies. Switching to a monocoque hull structure in the new generation production and producing the tank with single-cut casting technology instead of combining module cuts will increase the durability rate to much higher levels.

According to the developed road map, the production of the Altay tank will proceed in two main steps. In the first stage, tanks equipped with power group systems supplied from South Korea will begin to enter the inventory with the T1 configuration.

In the following T2 stage, the integration of the Batu engine, which is completely domestically produced, will be completed. Thus, Türkiye will not only have a power with the most modern strike and defense capabilities in the field, but also will be in a position to export this critical defense industry product.