Armored vehicle maker BMC wins Turkish battle tank bid

By Goksel Yildirim

ANKARA

Istanbul-based armored vehicle manufacturer BMC on Tuesday won the bid for a Turkish-made main battle tank.

Officials from the Defense Industry Undersecretariat, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told Anadolu Agency that the battle tank's bidding process was finalized, so the undersecretariat will hold contract talks with BMC to mass produce and develop the tank, called the Altay.

Other bidders for the Altay contract included Koc Holding’s defense company Otokar and armored vehicle manufacturer FNSS.

In April 2017, Defense Minister Fikri Isik said that an Altay prototype had passed all its tests successfully.