Turkey to get South Korean Doosan Infracore DV27K engine to power its Altay tank.

Turkey is in negotiations with South Korea to procure engines for its domestic main battle tank Altay, which will soon be integrated into the tank, according to Defense Industries Presidency (SSB) Chairman Ismail Demir, TheDeadDistrict reports.

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Altay MBT at a military parade in Turkey (Picture source: Twitter account of Bumfuzzle)

Ismail Demir told Turkish broadcaster NTV on March 3 that the problem regarding the engine of the tank will soon be solved and that the engine production with local means will also continue simultaneously. SSB head previously revealed that the prototypes of both the engine that will power the Altay and another type for light armored vehicles will be ready this year, though the tank will initially use a power unit purchased from abroad.

Altay's prototype was powered by a 1,500 horsepower diesel engine from the German manufacturer MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH. The German Rheinmetall has also created a joint venture with the Turkish land vehicles producer BMC aimed to establish joint production of armored vehicles, particularly the Altay main battle tank. Turkey had hoped to power the Altay with the MTU engine and Renk transmission, but talks with German manufacturers stopped due to a German arms embargo on Turkey. Germany is one of a number of European governments that have limited exports to Turkey over its involvement in the Syrian civil war.

Doosan Infracore DV27K engine selected to power a first series of Altay MBTs (Picture source: TheDeadDistrict)

According to the last year announcement, this engine will be the South Korean Doosan Infracore DV27K, 4-cycle, 12-cylinder water-cooled diesel engine developing 1,500 hp.

According to a new published by the Daily Sabah website on January 11, 2021, the Turkish defense industry will develop the first prototype of the Batu tank engine that will be mounted on the Altay. Let’s remind that this project was launched by the Turkish company Otokar : it was initiated with an agreement signed between the Turkish company Otokar and the Turkish Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSB now) on March 2007, when the Defense Industries Executive Committee awarded a contract worth approximately $500 million to Otokar for the design, development, and production of four prototypes of a national main battle tank.

The Batu is a powerpack developed by the Turkish company BMC including a Diesel engine and an automatic transmission. BMC signed a contract with SSB (Turkish Defense Association) on June 13, 2018. BMC launched the development of a new engine develping 1,600 hp in collaboration with the Italian manufacturer Fiat/Iveco.

BMC Batu engine (Picture source: BMC)