Türkiye's main battle tank has reached a critical milestone, as factory acceptance procedures for its indigenous power unit have been completed, a senior defense official announced on Wednesday.
"The factory acceptance tests for the 1,500-horsepower Batu engine, developed for our modern main battle tank Altay, have been successfully completed," Haluk Görgün, the head of the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB), said.
"Developed by BMC POWER using national resources, the Batu engine clearly demonstrates the level Türkiye has reached in land vehicle engine technologies with its performance, durability, and operational capabilities," Görgün wrote on the social media platform NSosyal.
The tests come two months after the opening of a factory that will build the tank and the power unit. That coincided with the delivery of the first Altay units to the Turkish armed forces.
The mass production process was launched with an imported power group.
Testing and qualification activities for the transmission of the Batu engine are continuing as planned, according to Görgün.
The engine development process, which began in 2018, started with significant gaps in engineering infrastructure, testing facilities, supply chain, and human resources. However, simulation, production, and testing capabilities have been acquired, and the engines have been successfully developed and tested.
Designed to meet the high mobility requirements of the Altay tank, the power unit demonstrates superior performance in criteria such as low fuel consumption, long lifespan, suitability for high altitudes and challenging climatic conditions.
The Batu Power Group, which provides the tank's mobility, consists of engine, transmission, and cooling package components. With the engine now ready, the qualification of the domestically produced transmission has become a priority, and work in this direction is continuing at full speed.
The Altay project had faced obstacles and delays since its inception, mainly due to export license restrictions, but President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pushed it forward. Two prototypes were delivered for tests to the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in 2023.
Despite boasting NATO's second-largest army, Türkiye often faced arms embargoes by its allies in the past. That pushed it to significantly boost domestic capabilities and curb foreign dependence over the last two decades.
Today, it produces a wide range of vehicles and arms types domestically, including its own drones, missiles and naval vessels. It's also developing its own fifth-generation fighter jet.