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Türkiye Inducts Upgraded M60T Tanks As Altay Tank Enters Serial Production Phase.
Türkiye’s Ministry of National Defence said a fresh batch of modernized M60T main battle tanks has passed acceptance and entered Land Forces service, coinciding with the Altay program’s shift into serial production. The move bridges near-term combat readiness while Altay deliveries scale and signals Ankara’s intent to sustain heavy armor across multiple fronts.
On October 30, 2025, Türkiye’s Ministry of National Defence announced that a new batch of modernized M60T main battle tanks had successfully completed inspection and acceptance and was formally taken into the Land Forces Command inventory, as reported by the Turkish MoD. The announcement fits into the broader effort to keep the Turkish Army’s armored component combat-ready at a time when the Altay is only just entering service and when Ankara wants to rely almost entirely on national industry for high-intensity operations. It is also a signal to Türkiye’s neighbors and partners that the country intends to maintain an armored order of battle capable of operating on several fronts simultaneously, from Syria and Iraq to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Caucasus. The Turkish MoD added that Makine ve Kimya Endüstrisi A.Ş. (MKE) had, in parallel, completed deliveries of several calibers of weapons and ammunition to sustain these capabilities.
Türkiye announced that a new batch of upgraded M60T main battle tanks has entered Land Forces service, reinforcing near-term armored readiness as the Altay tank moves into serial production (Picture Source: Turkish MoD/Army Recognition Group)
The M60T, originally the Israeli Sabra Mk II configuration acquired by Türkiye to upgrade its American-made M60 Patton fleet, has now reached a third and distinctly Turkish stage of life: after the 2016 Syria experience, which exposed the vulnerabilities of legacy tanks to modern anti-tank guided missiles, Ankara launched the FIRAT/M60T and later the TİYK-M60T programs under the coordination of the Defence Industry Agency (SSB) with Aselsan as prime contractor, supported by Roketsan for armor and protection modules, by MKE for gun/ammunition compatibility and power distribution elements, and by several local suppliers for sensors and electronics. These tanks now receive the fully indigenous Volkan-M fire-control system, a commander’s independent thermal sight, the PULAT active protection system, YAMGÖZ close-surveillance cameras, TLUS laser warning, the TEPES telescopic periscope, SARP remote weapon station, spall liners, improved air conditioning and an auxiliary power unit, bringing them to a level of situational awareness, survivability and lethality compatible with current battlefield threats. In practical terms, the platform has moved from being an imported Israeli upgrade of a U.S. tank to being a Turkish-integrated, Turkish-sensored and Turkish-protected armored vehicle that can operate alongside, and eventually hand over the spearhead role to, the domestically produced Altay whose deliveries and mass production are starting.
Operationally, the M60T is one of the Turkish Army’s most combat-proven platforms. It has been used in cross-border operations in northern Syria since 2016, often in mixed formations with Leopard 2A4s and upgraded M60A3s, to provide mobile direct fire, support mechanized infantry and hold urban or semi-urban terrain against irregular forces equipped with ATGMs. Those operations provided the dataset that later justified adding active protection, all-round cameras and better crew protection, and today’s acceptance of modernized vehicles shows that the Turkish Army has institutionalized those lessons into its armored doctrine. It is also consistent with a wider, long-running program to modernize the entire tank park, M60T, M60A3 and Leopard 2A4, rather than rely on a single new platform. In other words, Türkiye is buying time and combat mass with upgraded legacy tanks while the Altay ramps up.
Strategically, delivering modernized M60Ts in the same week that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presided over the handover of the first production Altays from BMC underscores a layered approach to armored power: keep the current brigades at high readiness, reduce foreign dependence, and prepare the logistics, training and industrial pipeline for a 250-strong Altay fleet by the early 2030s. The MoD itself and open sources state that the Altay will progressively replace legacy Leopard 1s and M60s, but until serial production reaches the projected rhythm, officials are talking about eight tanks a month from the new plant, Ankara needs upgraded M60Ts in numbers to maintain deterrence. Seen from the region, this latest acceptance signals that Türkiye is not waiting for Altay to be available in mass to refresh its frontline armor; it is doing both tracks at once, with domestic industry as the main enabler.
There is also a geostrategic reading. A locally integrated M60T, with Turkish electronics, Turkish APS and Turkish ammunition supplied by MKE, cannot easily be interrupted by export restrictions, unlike earlier Western or Israeli-dependent configurations. This matters at a time when several NATO members, including Türkiye, have experienced embargoes or delayed export licenses for key subsystems. By completing the acceptance of these tanks now, Ankara is telling its partners and competitors that it can field, sustain and modernize an armored force largely from national sources, while still being interoperable with NATO in areas such as C4ISR and fire-control data exchange. It is an industrial message as much as a military one.
This development therefore brings three concurrent effects: it immediately raises the number of survivable, sensor-rich tanks available to Turkish armored brigades; it secures an operational bridge toward full Altay deployment; and it confirms the maturity of Türkiye’s land-systems ecosystem, from Aselsan’s optronics to Roketsan’s protection suites and MKE’s ammunition lines. At a moment when the Turkish Armed Forces are expected to operate in several theaters at once and to do so with limited foreign dependency, this is a strong signal of continuity and of intent.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.