Turkish officials have begun negotiations with South Korean manufacturers to procure an engine and gearbox for the Turkish project tank “ALTAY”. Plans for the use of the German MTU engine and RENK gearbox were recently blocked by the German federal authorities.
Altay, first designed in the 1990s and restarted in 2018, is set to be Turkey’s first domestically produced tank but faced repeated setbacks.
In 2019, several European Union countries imposed an arms embargo on Turkey over military intrusion against Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria.
An alternative is now being sought through South Korean companies Doosan and S&T Dynamics, which produce engines and automatic gearboxes.
