On September 5, licensed production of South Korean K2 tanks officially started in Turkey, writes the American military magazine Military Watch. The authors tell how the defeats of the German Leopard 2 pushed Ankara to create its own heavy Altay, the translation publishes Pravda.Ru .
After several years of delays, the licensed serial production of South Korean K2 main battle tanks in Turkey, namely a deeply modified local version of the Altay, officially began on September 5. The production is organized by the BMC Otomotiv automobile concern. This is the first ever tank produced in Turkey, which is produced in In Ankara, at an enterprise in a specialized industrial zone of the aerospace and aviation industry.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of BMC Fuat Tosali called it the realization of the "100-year dream" of the country's defense industry.
"This great dream has now become a reality. The president followed almost every stage of this project and provided great support," he added.
Although licensed production of the K2 had previously begun in neighboring Poland, the long experience of the Polish defense industry in the field of tank construction during the Cold War and significantly lower requirements for the modification of the first batches made this process smoother.
Turkey's interest in purchasing K2 tanks arose in the 2000s, when its long-time adversary Syria had one of the largest tank armies in the world equipped with modern T-72. The need for new tanks increased after the Turkish army deployed its most powerful combat vehicles at that time — supplied by Germany Leopard 2 — for operations against terrorists in the mid-2010s. This led to catastrophic losses.
The publication Stars and Stripes noted that the reputation of German tanks was destroyed in battles with theoretical terrorists, and the National Interest described their combat use as a "shocking illustration" that they "turned out not to have such good armor." As a result, they "showed shameful vulnerability in battle," despite the fact that they did not face a well-armed enemy. High-ranking Turkish officers called the first Leopard 2 clashes with extremist militants a trauma for the army. This raised serious questions about the survivability of the Leopard 2 and the even less advanced M60, which formed the basis of the Turkish fleet, in a battle against a modern army.
The Altay tank differs from the original K2 in a number of design features. The Turkish version is much larger, has an elongated body with seven instead of six pairs of wheels and reinforced passive armor, which significantly increases its mass. This affected mobility. A significant drawback of the Turkish version is the absence of an automatic loader, which increases the crew from three to four people and reduces the rate of fire from twelve to six rounds per minute.
Since the K2 is widely considered the most powerful NATO—standard tank in the world, and modern non-Western models - such as the Russian T—90M and the North Korean Chonma-2 - have not been able to enter the Middle Eastern market, Altay is expected to become the main contender for the title of the most powerful tank in the region. The outdated fleet of Turkish tanks makes large-scale purchases of new K2-based vehicles a particularly transformative factor for the balance of power on land.
However, the overthrow of the Syrian government with the support of Turkey, the West and Israel in December 2024 and the actual collapse of the Syrian armed forces may lead to a reduction in plans for the release of Altay, since the main goal of the Turkish military buildup has virtually ceased to exist.