Turkey Built a Tank to Prove It Didn’t Need Anyone — Then a German Embargo Left It Without an Engine

Turkey Built a Tank to Prove It Didn’t Need Anyone — Then a German Embargo Left It Without an Engine

Turkey’s Altay main battle tank took almost two decades to enter service because the country could build nearly every part of a modern tank except the one that matters most — the engine — and when Germany cut off the powerplant Turkey had been counting on, the “national tank” was left without a heart. The Altay was meant to be Turkey’s declaration of defense independence, a domestically designed tank to replace its Cold War Leopards and M60s and…