Turkey is reportedly keen on buying Ukraine’s 6TD-3 Diesel Engine for its Altay main battle tank (MBT) due to increasing uncertainty of Western suppliers.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman signed a memorandum-of-understanding (MoU) in relation to tank engines during Groysman’s official visit to Ankara on March 14, Quwa reported today.
Turkey is interested in Ukraine’s engines, Ukroboronprom (UOP)’s Director, Roman Romanov, said: “The matter was technically problematic”, but the government-to-government agreement was a positive step forward, Romanov added.
In the beginning of March, the Turkish Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (SSM) cancelled its engine supply contract with Tümosan, the local firm that was originally tasked to design, develop and manufacture a local diesel engine for the Altay MBT.
Tümosan had originally signed-on AVL List GmbH to support the program in 2015, but recent regulatory issues – requiring licenses that could interfere with Turkey’s domestic political affairs – in Austria required Tümosan to walk away from that agreement. However, Tümosan was not able to secure alternate help.
