What Should Be Done With The Current Turkish Tank Force?

[Hurshid Celebi]

As you all know the Turkish Army operates many older tanks, the first Altay's are expected to be delivered in 2017 but it will still be a while untill a significant number of them are in service. In the mean time the Army has massive amounts of older Leopard 2's, M-60's and M-48's that need to either be upgraded, scraped, or put in storage.

As it was 20 years ago.
We can use them as armored Castles at some security stations.
They must be dizel engine equipped and climated as well as NVS on board.

Nothing more

 

[IR-TR]

I don't think any leo 2 in turkish service is 'old' and needs to be replaced asap. They can stay for another 20 years. M60s can stay until the Altay becomes available in some numbers. The m48's though, yes, should go. But Turkey isn't about to get into a large land war. Any place those tanks may be needed aren't suited for tanks anyway.

 

[Hurshid Celebi]

As it was 20 years ago.
We can use them as armored Castles at some security stations.
They must be dizel engine equipped and climated as well as NVS on board.
Nothing more

 

[BordoEnes]

My 2 cents:
- M48's -> Straight to the scrap yard. These tanks are older then old. Considering what is happening to Syrian T-72, it would be pointless to keep a tank thats even older and more inferior then that in storage or service.
- M60's -> Turkish army has a tradition of having a huge stockpile of tanks in storage, so replace the M48 in storage with these i say. They can always be used for something.
- M60T's -> Should ofcourse remain in active service. I think this tank would be perfect for the upcoming LCT, LHD and LST naval ships so it can be used for landing. The tank is small, modern, not that heavy and is extremely capable.
- Leopard 1's -> Just like the M60's they should be stored away.
- Leopard 1T's -> These tanks should remain in limited active service, these can definitly have an impact in any battlefield considering their modern FCS.
- Leopard 2's -> These tanks arent that old and can still go strong for another 2 decades. I'd say overhaul and upgrade them with the NG package. Station them at thrace.

 

[Hakan]

I really wonder though if they will upgrade the Leo 2's, it will still take some time for a significant amount of Altay's to come into service. Maybe they are allocating more funds to counter insurgency type weapons, border secuirty etc. idk.

 

[Hurshid Celebi]

All global players reactivate many of their stored tanks. Despite they are not suited for urban combat . War doctrines seem to change again

 

[BordoEnes]

I really wonder though if they will upgrade the Leo 2's, it will still take some time for a significant amount of Altay's to come into service. Maybe they are allocating more funds to counter insurgency type weapons, border secuirty etc. idk.

Possibly. Though admittedly we dont really need the NG package upgrade, the tanks are as mentioned before relativly modern, new and capable. Would love to see Leopard2NG's in service but i can understand if the army doesnt want/need it.

 

[-------]

My 2 cents:
- M48's -> Straight to the scrap yard. These tanks are older then old. Considering what is happening to Syrian T-72, it would be pointless to keep a tank thats even older and more inferior then that in storage or service.
- M60's -> Turkish army has a tradition of having a huge stockpile of tanks in storage, so replace the M48 in storage with these i say. They can always be used for something.
- M60T's -> Should ofcourse remain in active service. I think this tank would be perfect for the upcoming LCT, LHD and LST naval ships so it can be used for landing. The tank is small, modern, not that heavy and is extremely capable.
- Leopard 1's -> Just like the M60's they should be stored away.
- Leopard 1T's -> These tanks should remain in limited active service, these can definitly have an impact in any battlefield considering their modern FCS.
- Leopard 2's -> These tanks arent that old and can still go strong for another 2 decades. I'd say overhaul and upgrade them with the NG package. Station them at thrace.

What about the Light Tank Indonesia and Turkey got cooking up ? Perhaps SSM getting full rights to the platform might be an indicator that Turkey could order some to replace M48 and M60 ?

 

[Hakan]

I think the fact that the M-60's have night vision has really helped with border security, they are still good enough for observing areas and taking out threats with 50 .cal and if necessary the main gun. Some upgrades to counter ATGM's would be good though.

This article says Assad lost 1800 armored vehicles in 2 years
How to Take Out 1,800 Tanks in Two Years — War Is Boring — Medium

Possibly. Though admittedly we dont really need the NG package upgrade, the tanks are as mentioned before relativly modern, new and capable. Would love to see Leopard2NG's in service but i can understand if the army doesnt want/need it.

Here it says that the Leo 2's were upgraded by aselsan. Do you have more info on that or did the reporters make a mistake?

Maybe they upgraded everything except the armor.

 

[BordoEnes]

What about the Light Tank Indonesia and Turkey got cooking up ? Perhaps SSM getting full rights to the platform might be an indicator that Turkey could order some to replace M48 and M60 ?

From what i know the Light Tank would be specificly designed for Indonesian terrain and geography, however i am actually certain we will get something along the line of a light tank (Wether its the Indonesian/Turkish or Arma with 105mm cannon and etc.) Think about it, the production rate of Altay will never be THAT big to begin with, it would probably take atleast 2 decades for 1000 Altay's in all its variant to be produced and inducted. So it would make sense to have some domestic alternatives in the mean time.

 

[Hurshid Celebi]

Indeed they finished upgrades

ECONOMY - Aselsan modernizes Leopard 2 tanks

 

[BordoEnes]

I think the fact that the M-60's have night vision has really helped with border security, they are still good enough for observing areas and taking out threats with 50 .cal and if necessary the main gun. Some upgrades to counter ATGM's would be good though.

This article says Assad lost 1800 armored vehicles in 2 years
How to Take Out 1,800 Tanks in Two Years — War Is Boring — Medium


Here it says that the Leo 2's were upgraded by aselsan. Do you have more info on that or did the reporters make a mistake?

Maybe they upgraded everything except the armor.

Well we all know how notoriously awfull Turkish journalisme is.

The LeopardA4's they showed in the video obviously arent upgraded yet so i highly doubt its true.

 

[Hurshid Celebi]

Until 2011 171 Leo 1 were upgraded. You can not see on the Video enough details. But seems so. 4 years were enough

 

[Hakan]

We only need heavy tanks for mainly for greece and armenia. Iraq and Syrian tank forces are done and they will never attack Turkey anyways so highly mobile air transportable light tanks would be good for Turkey so that forces can be quickly deployed to the border. In the east the TSK will mostly be dealing with technicals and T-55's which can be handled by a good light tank. If you have an atgm on it you can take out bigger threats like the T-72.

 

[Hurshid Celebi]

I believe LEO 2 A4 upgrade number will be secret until we will see them in action

Turkish firm proposed its Leopard 2NG solution to Finland | Defence blog

The upgrade package is competitive.

For threats from Syria and Iraq 20 A-10 would be perfect.