Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım and Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman two weeks ago signed a memorandum of understanding in a meeting, determining that Turkey's domestically manufactured, main battle tank the Altay will be powered with an engine provided by Ukraine.

A deal for the manufacturing of the engine that had previously been made with the Turkish Engine Industry and Trade Corporation TÜMOSAN was called off at the end of February this year after the company announced that Austria had banned the type of technology support that will be used for engine production. After the deal was scrapped, a period of uncertainty ensued that ended with the signing of the memorandum with Ukraine.

Roman Romanov, general director of the Ukrainian state company Ukroboron Prom, explained the latest developments in a statement to a Ukrainian website, indicating that the issue had been discussed during a meeting held between Prime Minister Groysman and his Turkish counterpart when the former visited Turkey on March 14.

Romanov stated that Ukraine recommends the 6TD3 engine for the Altay as part of the deal, noting that Ukraine is waiting for information regarding engine power specifications.

Romanov also emphasized that there are no technical problems thus far in the manufacturing of the engine, adding that the only condition of the memorandum is the willingness of politicians to see the project through completion and commensurate to the allocated budget for the production of the engine. To underscore Ukraine's expertise and experience in engine production for military equipment, Romanov noted that Ukraine manufactured 200 battle tanks per month during World War II and some of the models that Ukraine proposed can be put into operation in a couple of months