Turkey to select next-generation helicopter

Turkey is preparing to select a new utility helicopter model, which it plans to produce and use for both military and civilian purposes over the next 20 years.

Turkey's procurement office is presently holding talks with a U.S. company and a European consortium. One of them will lead the work with local partners to jointly produce hundreds of utility platforms worth billions of dollars.

The two firms are the U.S. Sikorsky Aircraft and the Italian-British AgustaWestland. Sikorsky is competing with its S-70 Black Hawk International and AgustaWestland is offering a platform currently being developed for the Turkish contract.

The two companies presented their best offers in September, and Turkey's Defense Industry Executive Committee is expected to choose a winner before the year-end, senior procurement officials told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.

The members of the Defense Industry Executive Committee, Turkey's top decision-making body on procurement matters, include Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ, Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül and Chief Procurement Officer Murad Bayar.

The first batch of utility helicopters to be jointly produced will comprise 109 platforms, worth more than $1 billion.

Some 40 of those platforms will go for civilian purposes, and the rest will be military helicopters for the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Gendarmerie.

20 helicopters a year

"After the first batch of 109 helicopters, we expect to order nearly 20 helicopters a year from this assembly line for many years," one procurement official said.

"So the model we choose will be Turkey's standard utility helicopter model for the next 20 years," said the official. Turkey also plans to export this jointly manufactured utility platform.

Presently, the Turkish military is operating several different types of helicopters. The military has more than 100 S-70s, more than 100 older U.S.-made UH-1 Hueys and 19 French-designed AS-532 Cougars.

Separately, the procurement office is holding government-to-government talks with the United States for the purchase of 10 CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters, made by Boeing. In the long run, Turkey wants to design, develop and manufacture its own light utility helicopter.