Türkiye to receive first Altay main battle tank in October 2025 as a new tank plant opens.

Türkiye will formally take delivery of the first Altay main battle tanks on October 28, timed with the inauguration of a new BMC production facility outside Ankara. That handover marks the transition from prototypes to serial production, an inflection point in Turkey’s drive toward armored sovereignty.

Türkiye Today reported on October 12, 2025, that the Turkish Land Forces will take the first delivery of the Altay main battle tank on Oct. 28, timed to the opening of BMC’s new Tank and New Generation Armored Vehicles Production Facility outside Ankara. The piece frames the handover as a pivot from prototypes to series vehicles and notes an initial production run that starts with imported power units before shifting to BMC Power’s indigenous BATU engine.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link

The Altay main battle tank combines a 120 mm L55 smoothbore gun, advanced Aselsan fire control and Akkor active protection systems, and modular Roketsan armor, delivering high mobility, superior firepower, and 360-degree defense for modern battlefield conditions (Picture source: BMC).

What will roll off the line is the T1 configuration, the first tranche of a 250-tank program split between 85 T1s and 165 T2s. Turkish officials have said three vehicles will enter the inventory this year, followed by a measured ramp in 2026 and 2027, a schedule that matches both earlier statements from the defense procurement chief and independent reporting. The T2 variant is planned to introduce the national powerpack once endurance testing clears the final gates.

The primary armament is a 120 mm L55 smoothbore produced by state manufacturer MKE under technology transfer, paired to a thermal sleeve and static muzzle reference. Rate of fire, barrel life and shot-to-shot consistency were designed to sit in the same conversation as peer NATO guns, with an effective engagement envelope shaped by a contemporary fire control suite supplied by Aselsan for series production. In early October, Aselsan said its Altay subsystems had passed factory acceptance and were being handed to BMC for integration on the first line tanks.

Protection is the other defining pillar. Roketsan’s composite and add-on packages are complemented by Akkor, Aselsan’s hard-kill active protection system that uses multi-face radar and kinetic countermeasures to defeat incoming anti-tank guided missiles and rockets with 360-degree coverage. Turkish and European trade publications have tracked Akkor’s march to serial deployment in 2025, and Turkish officials have hinted at its utility as a last-ditch shield against slow drones as battlefield profiles evolve.

Export license barriers that dogged earlier engine plans pushed Ankara to a Korean interim solution on the T1, while BMC Power completed the 1,500 hp BATU engine and associated transmission for the T2. European Security & Defence and Turkish outlets have detailed that transition path, and the new BMC plant is explicitly sized and tooled to synchronize hull assembly with both imported and domestic power groups to keep deliveries on track.

Altay is built for combined-arms maneuver in the missile-saturated environments Turkish units have faced from northern Syria to the Caucasus. The stabilized 120 mm gun, modern thermal sights and laser rangefinder support first-round hit probability at range, while the remote weapon station provides close-in suppression without exposing crew. With Akkor layered over passive and reactive armor, the tank is meant to ride through top-attack and tandem-warhead threats that have shredded legacy fleets since 2022, then punch back under a digital battle management backbone aligned with the army’s wider C4I push.

Ankara has treated Altay as an anchor for defense autonomy after years of sanctions, license cancellations and supplier churn. The October 28 milestone, staged at a new plant in the capital’s industrial belt, signals a supply chain that is recalibrating inside Türkiye’s borders and among partners willing to co-produce. It comes as NATO’s southern flank hardens against instability from the Levant to the Black Sea and as armored warfare reclaims centrality in Europe’s security debate. Success with Altay’s series production and the BATU powerpack would not just equip Turkish brigades; it would also reshape export math across the Middle East and Eurasia, where several armies are watching Ankara’s bet on indigenous mass with interest.