News from Islamic countries

Turkey currently operates German Leopard tanks (1A and 2A), as well as american tanks M60 and M48. Back in 1996, the Turkish leadership decided to adopt a new generation of tanks. Before that, the Turks had: and French lungs Renault FT tanks (since 1928); Vickers Carden Loyd tankettes and British Vickers tanks; since 1935 tanks of the USSR T-26; since 1943 - Wehrmacht tanks Pz. III and Pz. IV. Now Turkey is taking decisive steps - this is the modernization of the German Leopard-1 and American M60 tanks, and the disposal of obsolete models. The Turks tested vehicles, including the Ukrainian Yatagan tank, which performed well, but the Turkish leadership preferred the German Leopard-2 tank.

Modernization of the Leopard tank

The Turkish company Aselsan has developed its own version of the modernization of the main battle tank Leopard 2A4. On the modernized tank, which received the designation Leopard 2NG (Next Generation), the company will also work out a number of technologies that will later be used on the Turkish main battle tank Altay.

Ankh Leopard 2A4 received new electronic, mechanical and hydraulic systems. Among the innovations are a duplicated fire control system, an inertial navigation system, a duplicated periscope system, an external remotely controlled weapon station, a stabilization system, as well as additional mine and ballistic armor.

Turkish tank prototype

The Turkish company Otokar at the IDEF-2011 arms exhibition in Istanbul showed a prototype of the Altay national main battle tank. The Altai tank, created jointly with the South Korean company Hyundai Rotem, will be produced exclusively from Turkish components. The tank will be completely ready for delivery to the troops in 2016 (although sometimes 2015 appears in some sources). An agreement for the creation of the Altai tank was signed between the Secretariat of the Defense Industry (SSM) of Turkey and the Turkish company Otokar in March 2007. In 2008, Otokar entered into an agreement with the South Korean company Hyundai Rotem to jointly develop a new tank. As part of the contract, Hyundai Rotem transferred to the Turkish side all the technologies used in the Korean K-2 Black Panther tank.

According to the Turkish Ministry of Defense, the Altai tank borrowed 60 percent of the technology used in the K-2 tank. The remaining solutions are currently being worked out by the Turkish company Aselsan in their own modernization of the German Leopard 2A4 tank, also shown at the arms exhibition. Aselsan will produce most of the systems for Altay, including the "friend or foe" recognition system.

The mass of Altay is 60 tons. The tank is armed with a 120 mm smoothbore cannon, a remotely controlled weapons module with stabilization, and a 12.7 mm machine gun. Tank Altai will be able to reach speeds of up to 70 kilometers per hour. According to preliminary estimates, the cost of a new Turkish tank will be about $5.5 million.

The Turkish Altay tank is ahead of the Russian T-90S and the Ukrainian Oplot-M.

The Turkish main tank (OT) "Altai" is a representative of generation 3+ tanks. The vehicle was developed as part of the Milli Tank Uretim Projesi ALTAY program (MITUP ALTAY - the project of the national Turkish tank "Altai"). OT "Altai" is considered the first national tank designed for Turkish ground forces(TLFC - Turkish Land Forces Command).

In the entire history of the Turkish tank forces, they included only foreign tanks. Namely, cars of French, German, English, Soviet and American production. The first Turkish tanks were the French Renault FT-17, which became the prototype of the first Soviet tanks"Fighter for freedom comrade. Lenin", the release of which in the USSR began in 1920. Turkey acquired from France in 1928 several Renault FT-17 tanks for the Istanbul infantry school. Twelve years later, in 1940. Turkey once again bought French tanks. This time light Renault R35.

By this time, Turkish tankers had mastered several types of combat vehicles purchased in other countries. Between 1930 and 1934, about 30 Vickers Carden Loyd tankettes, Vickers Carden Loyd M1931 amphibious tanks, about 10 light Vickers tanks 6ton Mk E, and 13 Vickers Mk VI b.

In 1935, Turkey purchased from the USSR 67 light T-26s and 60 armored vehicles of the BA series. The delivered tanks went to form the 1st tank battalion in Luleburgaz - 140 km northwest of Istanbul, which became the first real armored unit of the Turkish army. They remained in service until 1942.

In 1943, the Turkish army received 53 German tanks Panzerkampfwagen III (PzKpfw III)) and 15 tanks PzKpfw IVG. Subsequently, Turkey continued to buy tanks mainly in Germany. Were in service with Turkish tank troops and American combat vehicles- M48 and M60 in various versions.

With the development of national industry, primarily engineering, by the end of the last century, Turkey upgraded its Leopard 1 and 2 tanks, as well as the M60.

In the early 90s, the Turkish leadership decided to equip its army with new generation tanks. A tender was announced for the purchase of a new main tank. Tank builders from Germany, the USA and Ukraine took part in it, a number of comparative tests of combat vehicles were carried out in Turkey. Russian cars did not take part, since one of the requirements of the Turkish side was to provide, before the start of testing, a complete set of design documentation for the tank participating in the tender. This was explained by alleged plans to purchase a license for the production of one of the foreign tanks. The Russian leadership did not take this step and refused to participate in the tender, as it turned out later, it was right. Turkey did not buy any of the tanks participating in the tender and did not produce under license. But the documentation remained with the Turkish designers.

Almost ten years later (!), in 2004, the Turkish military announced that they had come to the conclusion that developing their own tank would cost the country much less than licensed production. In 2005, a tender was announced for the creation of a new Turkish tank, and in 2007 the winner was announced - the Turkish company Otokar.

In March of the same year, the Turkish Defense Industry Secretariat (SSM) signed a $400 million contract with Otokar for the development of a project for the first national Turkish main tank, the Altai. The contract signing ceremony was held in the presence of Prime Minister Erdogan, President of Kos Holding Defense Industry and Other Automotive Group Kudrete Onen, representatives of Turkish subcontracting companies in the main areas: Aselsan, MKEK, Roketsan, and also ... the Minister of National Defense of the Republic of Korea. This country, represented by Hyundai-Rotem, provides technical support for the project.

As conceived by the management, Otokar was supposed to conduct all research and development work, as well as be responsible for manufacturing, testing a prototype, for further mass production and support. This company has been producing cars for more than 45 years, including for the army. Over the past 25 years, Otokar has also been quite successful in the field of light armored vehicles, just remember the Cobra armored car. The car is like two drops of water similar to the French Renault VBL, but produced in Turkey.

The implementation of technical support for the Turkish project by the Korean company Hyundai-Rotem was explained by the fact that the South Korean tank of the new generation Black Panther became the basic basis for the creation of Altai. The joint development agreement with the South Korean company Hyundai Rotem was concluded by Otokar, as it was later reported, allegedly following a tender, in which the German KMW, the developer and manufacturer of the Leopard tanks, also participated. The contract provides for the complete transfer of technology to the K-2 Black Panther.

This begs the question, why did the Turkish leadership begin work on creating their own tank more than 10 years after the decision to rearm? Maybe the Korean designers created their Black Panther using all the technical documentation received by Turkey during the tender, after which none of the tanks participating in it was acquired? We can say that the Turks gave the documentation to Korea for testing, taking into account subsequent assistance in the "national" project. What happened in reality, we most likely will never know, but the request for a complete set of technical documentation for the tender was carried out for a reason.

Be that as it may, the management of Otokar emphasizes that the main tank "Altai" is an exclusively Turkish project. A large number of new systems, components and assemblies were developed for it, as well as a new design of the “third generation tank”. The project will reduce the country's dependence on external supplies military equipment and will also ensure the development of new technologies.

The name "Altai" (Altay) was given to the tank in honor of General Fakhrettin Altai, who commanded the V Cavalry Corps, parts of which during the Turkish War of Independence in 1919-1923. liberated the city of Izmir from the Greek troops (the third largest city in Turkey and the second largest port in the country).

At the first stage of the project, it was planned to build and test four prototypes within seven years. After completion of testing and fine-tuning of the machine, it is expected to receive an order for mass production of the first batch in the amount of 250 units. In the future, their number is planned to be increased to a thousand, replacing obsolete American and German vehicles with them.

In September 2010, the conceptual design stage of the Altai was completed, although the 3D model of the machine was presented to the public in August. At the International Exhibition IDEF-2011 in Istanbul in May 2011, Otokar presented a full-size layout. After completing the design work on the concept of the new machine, the Turkish designers proceeded to the detailed design stage, which, as originally planned, would take at least 30 months. However, to the credit of the Turkish engineers, they coped with their task much earlier.

On November 5, 2012, at the Adapazari military base (Sakarya province), the Turkish company Otokar held a presentation ceremony for the first two prototypes of the Altai main tank. The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Erdogan and Defense Minister Yilmaz. One of the presented prototypes, designated MTR, is intended for sea trials, the second, with the designation FTR, is for testing the firepower of the vehicle.

Since the Altai tank is created on the basis of the Korean K-2 Black Panther, it inherited all the technical innovations of its Korean "father" with the exception of the automatic loader. The solutions used in the South Korean K-2 in the Turkish tank "Altai" account for about 60 percent. Apparently, the Turkish car will inherit from the Korean tank and high cost. According to preliminary estimates for 2012, the price of "Altai" in the series was at least 5.5 million USD.

LAYOUT

The layout of the Altai tank is classic, with the location of the engine compartment (MTO) in the rear of the vehicle, the control compartment in the bow and the fighting compartment in the center. Crew - four people: commander, driver, gunner and loader.

The driver's seat is located in the control compartment in the center on the longitudinal axis of the machine, which greatly facilitates control. For boarding and disembarking, a hatch is used, which is closed with an armored lid, which, when opened, moves to the right. Three prism observation devices are installed in the driver's hatch cover.

The place of the loader is located in the fighting compartment in the tower, to the left of the gun. Above it there is a hatch for boarding and disembarking, as well as for loading ammunition. The armored manhole cover opens backwards.

Workplace commander is located in the fighting compartment, to the right of the gun. The gunner's workplace is also located to the right of the gun, just slightly ahead and below the tank commander, as was the case on the T-55, Leopard 1 and 2. The commander and gunner board and disembark through one hatch in turn. The armored manhole cover opens backwards.

As reported, the developers on the Altai are installing more powerful hull and turret protection compared to the Korean K-2 Black Panther tank. The turret was developed by Turkish engineers and differs from the turret of the Korean tank, since the armament complex does not include an automatic loader and it accommodates three crew members, and not two, as in the Black Panther.

The body of the Altai is longer, and the undercarriage uses seven road wheels per side, that is, one more than on the K-2. The sides of the hull are less than half covered with an anti-cumulative screen, leaving a rather significant projection of the side uncovered, including the road wheels. At the stern of the hull is an extensive armored grate for the exit of engine cooling air. This allows you to reduce the thermal background of the tank.

On the presented two prototypes chassis suspension - hydropneumatic. However, as reported, the final decision regarding the suspension system and a number of other systems has not yet been made. Everything will depend on how these systems behave during testing. The turret of the tank is welded with a developed lure in the stern, which stores part of the ammunition for the gun, as well as elements of the air conditioning system and an auxiliary power unit. Outside, the turret is equipped with boxes for storing spare parts and personal belongings of the crew, as is done on French Leclerc tanks.

FIREPOWER

High performance is ensured by the use of a 120-mm smoothbore German Rheinmetall Rh 120L / 55 gun with a barrel length of 55 calibers as the main weapon. The gun is equipped with a barrel bend control system, a thermal protective cover and an ejection gas removal system. Ammunition is placed in the aft lure of the tower, equipped with knock-out panels on the roof. The composition of the ammunition, apparently, will be standard - feathered armor-piercing sub-caliber shells with a detachable pallet, cumulative fragmentation and, possibly, shrapnel fragmentation. In total, 57 rounds will be transported in the tank, which indicates that most of the ammunition with flammable combustible cartridge cases of unitary 120-mm rounds will be placed together with the crew in the vehicle hull.

The development of the locally produced tank gun MKEK 120 and its ammunition is carried out by the state company Makine ve Kimya Endustrisi Kurumu (MKE), which is the main developer and manufacturer of weapons and ammunition in Turkey. As an additional weapon, a 7.62-mm machine gun coaxial with a cannon (mounted to the left of the cannon at the loader's workplace) and a 12.7-mm machine gun, which will be located on a remote-controlled module on the roof of the tower behind the hatches of the commander and loader on the longitudinal tower axis. It is controlled remotely from the tank commander's seat.

The Altai tank uses a modern Volkan-lll or National Cannon modular automated fire control system (FCS), originally developed for TAKS naval platforms.

The gunner and the tank commander have combined (day-night) sighting and observation systems (PNK) with a line of sight stabilized in two planes. Both complexes in their composition have optical, thermal imaging and laser ranging channels. The commander's PNK is panoramic; it has the ability to observe 360 ​​degrees, regardless of the position of the tower. Thanks to this, the concept of "hunter - killer" (hunter - killer) is implemented. All systems and subsystems of the OMS are currently being developed by Aselsan, which has a partnership with the Turkish company STM, which is developing software for automated systems combat control.

The main elements of the armament complex of the main tank "Altai" are developed and produced by the Korean company Hyundai Rotem, as well as the Turkish Machine Building and Chemical Industry Organization (MKE) and Roketsan.

SECURITY

Protection on the battlefield is provided by a welded armored hull and turret, a highly effective high-speed fire fighting system, anti- damaging factors weapons mass destruction, detection of laser radiation and setting smoke screens.

The hull and turret have differentiated armor. When booking a frontal projection, the use of modules with composite armor, as well as dynamic protection, is widely used. Onboard screens provide for the possibility of their strengthening additional modules, most likely with ceramic armor.

According to the magazine Jane's Defense Weekly in the article Kerry Herschelman "Turkey cancels contract with Tümosan for Altay MBT engines", program series production The Turkish national main tank Altay faced new problems after the Defense Industry Directorate (Savunma Sanayii Mustesarligi - SSM) of the Turkish Ministry of Defense on February 24, 2017 terminated the contract with the Turkish company Tümosan to create and mass-produce its own diesel engine for the Altay tank.

Both prototypes (PV1 and PV2) of the Turkish Altay tank (c) Otokar

In March 2015, Tümosan received a €190 million contract from SSM to build a 1,500 to 1,800 hp diesel engine for Altay with foreign technical assistance. In October 2015, Tümosan chose the well-known Austrian company AVL List GmbH as a partner in creating the engine and obtaining technologies. At the same time, the Turkish side had to have full intellectual property rights and export rights to the engine. However, at the end of 2016, the Austrian government denied AVL List a license to transfer technology to Turkey. This comes after the Austrian parliament unanimously passed a resolution in November demanding an embargo on arms and military technology to Turkey in the wake of the massive human rights violations committed by the Turkish government in the wake of unsuccessful attempt military coup on July 15, 2016. As a result, in January 2017, Tümosan was forced to terminate the cooperation agreement with AVL List.

Tümosan admitted that it has since tried to find a new tank diesel development partner among companies in the US, Canada, Germany, UK, Spain, Japan, South Korea, Russia and Ukraine, but in all cases without satisfactory conditions.

The first 250 serial Altay tanks should be equipped with imported German MTU diesel engines (which are also installed on prototypes), but in the future, the Turkish Ministry of Defense wants to equip tanks of the next releases with Turkish-made engines.

bmpd's comment. It should be noted that the program for the development and production of a tank engine with a capacity of 1500-1800 hp. at Tümosan was in itself extremely ambitious, since until now this company has produced only industrial and tractor diesel engines with a power of no more than 115 hp.

In the meantime, to date, there remains a general uncertainty in the very program for the start of serial production of Altay. The lead developer of the tank, Otokar, announced the completion of tank testing, first at the end of autumn 2016, and then, after the military demanded additional tests, at the end of February 2017 (a total of two demonstrators were built - for sea trials MTR and for testing weapons FTR - and two complete prototypes - PV1 and PV2 - of the Altay tank). However, SSM remains silent regarding the start of mass production of the Altay.

Deputy head of the SSM Ismail Demir said in January that the decision to start mass production of the tank was being postponed because the tests of the Altay were "still ongoing." In addition to the apparently continuing problems with the refinement of the tank, unofficially, the slowness is explained by the intention of SSM to announce a tender for the serial production of the Altay, and not in favor of Otokar. This is due to the well-known long-standing hostile relationship between the owners of the Istanbul holding Koç, which includes Otokar, and Turkish President R.T. Erdogan. If earlier Otokar, as the lead contractor in the development of the Altay tank, reasonably hoped that it would also become the lead tank manufacturer at its plant in the Arifie-Adapazari area in the vicinity of Ankara, now in the light of SSM's intentions to announce a tender for the serial production of the Altay, the issuance of an order for the production of the tank looks unguaranteed for Otokar. It is assumed that Otokar, if not completely deprived of the contract for mass production, will be forced to share the mass production of Altay with other Turkish manufacturers of armored vehicles that have expressed a desire to participate in the tender - Navy companies (now controlled by businessman Edhem Sandzhak, close to R.T. Erdogan ) and FNSS. It should be noted that if such a separation occurs, then this (the parallel creation of several lines of tank production) will be unprecedented for the practice of tank production in a country that has no competence in this regard.

The first batch of serial Altays should include 250 tanks with an approximate contract value of $ 3.5 billion. In 2016, Otokar announced its readiness to start mass production within 18-22 months after receiving a firm contract. February 2017 CEO Otokar Ali Koch said that the company spent $1 billion of its own funds on the creation and testing of the tank. It is believed that the same amount was invested in the program by the Turkish Ministry of Defense.

245

Turkey intends to cooperate with Ukraine in the development of an engine for the tank "Altai" Turkey may abandon attempts to obtain Japanese or Austrian technology to develop a "national engine".

An engine required for its own new generation tank, and turn to Ukraine on this issue. This is reported by the American weekly Defense News.

As the newspaper notes, in the past few years, Turkey has unsuccessfully tried to obtain technology from Japan and Austria for the engine of the Altay tank (Altay) of its own design.

As a senior Turkish official told the publication, "There is a political understanding between Turkey and Ukraine to work together on engine technologies ... with the prospect of producing not only for the Altai tank, but also for other platforms."

Turkey is negotiating with the Ukrainian concern Ukroboronprom on a possible deal to develop an engine, which is primarily intended for the Altai tank, as well as a self-propelled howitzer.

According to Sedar Ozyurt, general manager of Delta Defense, a Turkish partner of Ukroboronprom, "this work can be continued beyond the engine for the Altai tank." "Our goal is to complete research and development work on the national diesel engine with the full technical support of Ukroboronprom," the Turkish representative added.

Currently, the prototype of the Turkish tank is being tested and the program for its creation is approaching the stage of mass production. A group of engineers may soon arrive in Turkey to work on this program.

The 5TDMI1 transmission system of the Ukrainian engine has already been developed for power plant Turkish 155-mm Firtina self-propelled guns, created on the basis of the K9 Thunder self-propelled guns of the South Korean company Samsung Techwin.

As Ozyurt noted, Ukraine will not impose any restrictions on the use or export of a promising engine, including Pakistan.

The Altai tank program encountered a number of difficulties during its implementation, which led to delays in its implementation. The main problem was the development of a tank engine. In 2014, Turkey held lengthy negotiations with the Japanese company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries on the joint development and production of an engine for the Altai tank.

In 2015, Tümosan, a private engine company, signed a €190 million ($206 million) contract with the government to design an engine for Altai. The program included the design, development, prototype manufacturing, testing and certification of the engine by Turkish industry. The company said that the implementation of this program will put an end to Turkey's dependence on foreign-made engines for military vehicles.

Tümosan then signed an agreement with the Austrian company AVL List to provide technical support for the engine under development. Under the terms of the agreement, Tümosan planned to receive technical assistance from AVL on the Altai tank propulsion program, as well as know-how to integrate the engine into the tank. However, relatively recently, Tümosan announced the end of its contract with the Austrian company due to the lack of an agreement on obtaining an export license.

As one of the London experts on Turkey stated, "the inconclusive end of the attempts of the Turkish authorities to find a solution to the problem with the tank engine in the West is often attributed to the lack of democracy in Turkey." "Ukraine can be a solution to this problem," the expert added.

As official representatives of the military procurement department confirmed, Turkey wants to receive full rights to use and export a promising "national engine".

"It's no secret that licensing problems slow down our efforts and we don't want to experience them in the future," the expert emphasized.

Turkey and Ukraine have expanded cooperation in the defense industry by signing an agreement in February 2016. These countries agreed to create various working groups that could work together on the production of weapons systems, as well as cooperate in the field of advanced technologies. An intention was expressed to cooperate in the field of turbojet aircraft and other engines, radar, technologies military communications and navigation systems.

As part of the multibillion-dollar Altai program, Turkey plans to produce 1,000 tanks, including 250 tanks in the first batch. Turkish military production company armored vehicles Otokar has produced several prototypes that have recently passed acceptance tests. In 2016, the company announced its plans for the serial production of tanks, but the government may open a tender for a contract, Defense News emphasizes.

Text provided by TASS agency

Turkey is preparing to start mass production of its own promising Altay tank. Ankara plans to replace 30% of its outdated tank fleet with these vehicles. Experts note that there are no innovative solutions in Turkish development - many technologies are borrowed from foreign analogues. At the same time, experts believe that the creation of its own tank is a good image move on the part of Turkey, as well as support for the development of the country's defense industry. about the strong and weaknesses Altay - in the material RT.

Ankara is going to start serial production of its own promising Altay tank. This task will be undertaken by the private Turkish-Qatari company BMC, Defense News reports. For these needs, a site is being created in the city of Karasu (Sakarya). According to the resource, soon the Turkish Defense Industry Authority will conclude a $3.5 billion contract with BMC for the production of a batch of 250 vehicles.

According to the Strategic Plan for the Development of the Turkish Defense Industry, published in March 2017, the army should receive 35 Altay tanks in 2020-2021. Serial production of this tracked vehicle is scheduled for the end of 2020, and large-scale deliveries of Altay will begin in 2022.

In total, in the future, the Defense Industry Administration expects to supply armed forces up to a thousand vehicles, updating a third of the tank fleet of the Turkish army.

The first serial Altays will be equipped with German diesel engines MTU MT 883 Ka 501. It is assumed that after 2022 the tanks will move on national power plants. The strategic development plan provides funding for the development of engines for "land platforms".

The power plant will be created by Otomotiv Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. Initially, Ankara expected to use German or Austrian engines. However, in 2016-2017, Berlin and Vienna made a number of decisions that significantly limited military-technical cooperation with Turkey.

They forced the Department of Defense Industry (directly reporting to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan) to announce a competition for the development of their own power plant with a capacity of 1.5 thousand horsepower.

• oruzhie.info

Borrowed Solutions

Altay is the first Turkish tank. He was named after General Fakhrettin Altai (1880-1974), one of the leaders of the Kemalist Revolution, during which Turkey defended its independence.

Altay has been developed by Otokar Otomotiv ve Savunma Sanayi since 2007. A full-size mock-up of the machine was first demonstrated in Istanbul in 2011 at international exhibition IDEF. A year later, two prototypes were assembled. Turkey has already invested about $500 million in the Altay project.

The vehicle weighing 60 tons demonstrated good mobility and fire performance during tests. The tank is armed with a 120 mm smoothbore cannon and a 12.7 mm machine gun and is equipped with a panoramic sight and thermal imaging equipment.

The Turkish tank was fitted with modular composite armor and reactive armor. However, he is deprived the latest complexes active protection(interception of enemy ammunition). Another drawback of the machine is the relatively low level of control automation. For example, Altay has a manual loading system.

Experts agree that Ankara copied up to 60% of the technological solutions used in foreign cars. Thus, the turret, hull, cannon and undercarriage of the Altay are very reminiscent of the design of the South Korean tank K2 Black Panther and the German Leopard.

• Checking the firing qualities of Altay at the training ground
• oruzhie.info

The version of borrowing is also confirmed by the fact that the South Korean company Hyundai Rotem is participating in the project. In addition, in 2004, the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced a tender for the supply of a large batch of foreign tanks with the condition that all technical documentation be transferred to Ankara. Applications were submitted by the United States (M1 Abrams), Germany (Leopard 2) and Ukraine (T-84).

In the future, Altay should update the country's aging tank fleet. Today, the main combat vehicles of the Turkish Armed Forces are the modernized American tanks M48 and M60, the German Leopard 1 and Leopard 2. The main obstacle to rapid rearmament is the high price of Altay - $ 5.5 million (the cost of the Russian T-90 is $ 2 million, T-14 " Armata" - about $ 4 million).

Stimulus for development

In an interview with RT, Sergei Suvorov, candidate of military sciences, said that creating his own engine for Altay would be a serious challenge for the Turkish defense industry. In his opinion, the development of the power plant could become an obstacle to the serial production of the tank.

“It would be easier for the Turks to buy a good engine from the Germans or Austrians, because Turkey's position in engine building is rather weak. Perhaps the Turks will have to wait with the release of vehicles for use in the army. Without a reliable engine, talking about the capabilities of a tank in battle does not make sense. And relying on the West in such matters is clearly not in Turkey’s interests,” Suvorov said.

According to Suvorov, in the course of work on the creation of prototypes, Otokar most likely borrowed technological solutions. South Korea, Germany, USA and Ukraine.

“This is absolutely normal practice. The history of tank building tells us that it takes at least 20 years to create a completely original model. Altay will definitely be brought to mind. The Turkish defense industry has very strong state support. The political will of Ankara is clearly manifested in this project,” Suvorov explained.

The interlocutor of RT believes that Altay will be at approximately the same technological level since 2000 of development. At the same time, the real needs of the Turkish army in newest car, according to Suvorov, are limited to 200 units.

The expert believes that the Altay project has two goals - to equip the armed forces with their own modern tank and provide the national defense industry additional incentive for development.

“The Turks do not need an armada of tanks like the Altay. Altay's capabilities will be redundant for wars that . Political and economic reasons intertwined here. Turkey wants to gain technological independence from foreign countries and, ideally, take a leadership position in arms exports,” Suvorov summed up.

• American tanks M60 of the Turkish army
• Reuters
• Umit Bektas