Ukraine offers engines for Turkish Altay tank and howitzers

By TOC

KYIV, ($1=26.72 Ukrainian Hryvnias) – Representatives of the Malyshev Plant are negotiating to equip Turkish armored vehicles with Kharkiv 6TD-2 and 6TD-4 engines, learned BulgarianMilitary.com, citing Defense Express.

South Korea will help Turkey with engines for the Altay tank
Photo credit: Wikipedia

As part of the international exhibition IDEF-2021, which took place from 17 to 20 August this year. In Turkey, the Ukrainian exposition featured 6TD family engines, two versions of which [6TD-2 and 6TD-4] offer to equip the Turkish ACS Fırtına Howitzer and the Altay tank.

This information was reported to the correspondent of the local newspaper Turdef by the general designer in the field of engine construction at the SE “VO Malyshev Plant” Yegor Ovcharov.

According to him, one of the engines [6TD-2 with a capacity of 1200 hp] can be installed on an upgraded version of the ACS Fırtına Howitzer [or T-155 Fırtına II] from MKE.

This engine, which we brought to the exhibition, is designed to upgrade the Turkish ACS Fırtına. It is already used in the Pakistani tank Al-Khalid, in Thailand in the tank “Oplot”, as well as in the Ukrainian T-84. “We can offer it to the Turkish side,” Yegor Ovcharov said.

However, the Turkish journalist was more interested in the engine for the promising Altay tank – 6TD-4 [1500 hp], the presentation of which at the exhibition IDEF-2021 in July this year. promised ZIM General Director Vasyl Krylas. However, this engine was not presented at the exhibition.

According to General Designer Yegor Ovcharov, the Turkish side has now received all the technical characteristics of this Ukrainian engine and is deciding whether to develop the joint project further. However, he noted that he does not see any special technical problems with the installation of 6TD-4 on Altay.

“We are now at the stage of merging projects. Since the Altay tank already exists and the engine in metal also exists, we must combine these two things. If necessary, we will combine all this with Turkish engineers. It is not difficult,” Yegor Ovcharov said.

Interestingly, the 6TD-4 engine is mentioned very infrequently – even though its TTX is presented on the website of Ukroboronexport. It can be assumed that these are experimental samples with a capacity of 1500 hp, which were developed in Ukraine and are related to the development of new generation tanks in Soviet times in the direction of “Hammer / Boxer / Note”, but they were not used.

The main visual difference of this engine is the larger dimensions than the 6TD-3 engine. Also, this engine has an increased diameter of cylinders – up to 140 mm compared to 120 mm in engines 6TD-1,2,3. However, on the website of Ukroboronexport about 6TD-4, it is written that this diesel “is used as a power plant in the engine and transmission departments for the modernization of locomotives and ships.”

However, there is another interpretation: 6TD-4 – as an improved version of 6TD-3. So the intrigue persists.

It should be added that information about the possibility of equipping Turkish ACS and tanks with Ukrainian engines has been spreading for more than a year. The main reason for this interest from the Turkish side is the embargo on the supply of German engines MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH with a capacity of 1500 hp [for Altay] and STX-MTU MT881Ka-500 [for Fırtına], which were to be equipped with these machines in the original design.

Because of this, Turkish manufacturers of armored vehicles are forced to seek a replacement for German power plants, which, however, does not make Ukrainian companies the only possible supplier.

So, earlier this year, there was information about the completion of the development of its Turkish engine Batu for the Altay tank. In addition, South Korea with the Doosan Infracore DV27K engine applied for the supply of power plants for this car.

A similar story with the ACS Fırtına. Even the IDEF-2021 featured a model of a self-propelled artillery unit with an innovative 1300 hp hybrid engine.

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