Türkiye delivers first indigenous Altay tanks to armed forces, President Erdogan announces

Tanks completed 35,000 kilometers of testing and 3,700 live-fire exercises before deployment, Turkish president says

Türkiye has delivered the first indigenous Altay tanks to its armed forces, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Tuesday at the opening ceremony of the BMC Ankara Tank and New Generation Armored Vehicles Production Facility. The Altay is Türkiye’s new main battle tank, and its mass production is carried out at the Ankara plant of Turkish automaker BMC. Erdogan said the tanks completed a 35,000-kilometer (nearly 21,750-mile) testing program and 3,700 live-fire exercises before being handed over to the military. The president added that the Altay tank, upgraded with advanced systems, is designed to withstand the toughest battlefield conditions. He also highlighted Türkiye’s mass production line, which spans 63,000 square meters, saying it will produce eight Altay tanks and 10 Altug armored vehicles—described as “fortresses of the battlefield”—each month. “We continue to write a legend with our state-of-the-art air, land, and sea vehicles,” Erdogan said. “We are no longer just a state that follows; we are a state that is followed.”