Turkey to design, develop and produce national helicopter

Authorities have launched a program to design, develop and produce Turkey’s first national helicopter within the next five years. The country will probably select a foreign partner with large marketing capabilities, an official says.

This photo shows a UH-72A Lakota light utility helicopter, used by the US army. Turkey is planning to produce a national helicopter, weighing less than 5,500 kilograms. Company photo.Turkey’s defense procurement agency has formally pushed the button to launch an ambitious program to design, develop and produce the country’s first national helicopter, a light platform weighing less than 5,500 kilograms.

“We aim to build a platform designed by Turkish engineers, with customized sub-systems that also can compete on international markets with its performance and price. The first national helicopter will be sold to the Turkish market and then to international buyers,” the procurement office, known as the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries, or SSM, said in a statement on its website recently.

A senior SSM official familiar with the program said requests for proposals would soon be issued to international manufacturers willing to cooperate with Turkey on this project. The program is expected to cost Turkey billions of dollars in the next few decades, sources say.

Potential respondents

Potential respondents to the planned request for proposal include the U.S. helicopter maker Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. and Italy’s AgustaWestland. Earlier this year, Sikorsky defeated AgustaWestland in Turkey’s multibillion-dollar medium-sized utility helicopter competition. Turkey hopes to select its foreign partner in the light utility helicopter program next year.

One procurement official said Turkey wanted a foreign partner that can bring marketing advantages to the light utility helicopter program. “It’s not that we can’t make that helicopter ourselves, we can make it. But we would prefer to work with a company that has large marketing capabilities in third markets also,” said the official.

In a separate helicopter effort, Turkey in August signed a government-to-government deal with the United States to buy six Boeing-made CH-47 heavy-lift military transport helicopters, the first such vehicles in its inventory. The deal is worth up to $400 million.
On Sept. 29 the SSM held a critical brainstorming meeting to set out a road map for the national helicopter program. Military and civilian officials, industry executives and academics gathered for the meeting to discuss ideas.

First helicopter in 5 years

Koksal Liman, head of SSM’s helicopter programs, said Oct. 13 that, “We aim to see our first helicopter in the air within the next five years.” He also said the SSM already had completed budget planning.

Industry sources have said the type of light helicopter Turkey intends to build should weigh between 4,500 and 5,500 kilograms. The first Turkish national helicopter will be used for both military and civilian purposes, officials said. “Turkey is the world’s ninth largest helicopter market, so it is most natural if we went ahead to boost that sector of our local industry,” Liman said.

October 23, 2011
SOURCE: Hürriyet Daily News