Turkish army is receiving the country's locally-made new Altay tank on Sunday with the attendance of the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Speaking at the delivery ceremony of new Altay tanks to the Turkish Armed Forces for tests in the northwestern Sakarya province, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan highlighted Türkiye's goal to be "fully independent in the defense industry."
We have reduced the foreign dependency in the defense industry from around 80% to some 20% in such a short time as 20 years. The number of defense projects, which was merely 62 in 2002, has today surpassed 750," Erdogan said.
The Turkish leader also said that while Türkiye's total budget for defense projects was $5.5 billion in 2002, now it has reached a $75-billion project volume, including the ones in the bidding process.
Emphasizing the recent steps taken regarding defence industry of the country, Erdoğan stressed the efforts on this area.
Erdoğan said "We aim to crown our defense industry breakthroughs with the new Altay tank."
"Recently, we have also started the production of armor systems that we have outsourced and are subject to embargoes, with domestic and national means," he added.
"We have come to meet almost all our needs in the field of land vehicles with domestic and national capabilities."
Erdoğan added that, "Likewise, we have put various types and features of light and medium class unmanned ground vehicles at the service of our security forces."
"Türkiye has now become a supplier country that ranks first in the world in this field and whose products are used by many armies."
Stressing the new capabilities of the tanks, Erdoğan said "Our new Altay tank has very different and superior capabilities than the prototype that was first revealed 10 years ago."
"As a result, the new Altay has emerged with its high rate of locality, advanced technology, and features superior to its counterparts in the world," he said.
"I believe that our new Altay tank will serve as a very important power multiplier for our Armed Forces in this geography."
He added that "As soon as our army completes the tests, we will start mass production of our tanks."
