Paris Air Show: TAI eyes export sales
15th June 2015 - 18:40 by
Tony Skinner in Paris
After a period of rapid expansion since 2005, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) is entering a new phase and believes the appearance of its equipment with the Turkish Armed Forces will help push initial export sales.
TAI president and CEO Muharrem Dörtkaşli told Shephard the company was ‘working very closely’ with several governments which were considering the T129 ATAK attack helicopter, but was unable to provide specific details on the offers.
‘We do have several potential customers we are talking to,’ he noted. ‘We have several contracts now with the Turkish government and are putting major items of equipment into the inventory of the Turkish Armed Forces.’
Among the current international opportunities the company is actively chasing is Poland’s plans to purchase 32 attack helicopters, recently signing two MoUs with Polish defence companies as it builds up to compete for the programme.
The company has not involved the T-129 in the flying display at Paris but hopes to fly the attack helicopter at the MSPO exhibition in Poland in September.
In addition to the T-129, the company has been working for several years to supply the Anka UAV and Hurkus basic training aircraft to the Turkish Armed Forces. ‘It is clear that once these platforms enter service, our success will get bigger,’ Dörtkaşli added.
TAI has already developed into a $1 billion business over the past ten years and has ambitions to raise this further to $2.5 billion by 2023 – the hundred year anniversary of the Turkish state.
As it looks to steadily reduce its reliance on foreign suppliers for its military equipment needs, the Turkish government has placed particular emphasis on the rotary wing sector, launching a number of flagship developmental programmes under the stewardship of TAI.
In addition to being prime contractor on the T-129 programme, it will also build 109 T-70 helicopters for operation by the Turkish government under a contract signed in 2014 with Sikorsky.
However, the programme has taken several years getting through red tape, with the agreement between the two companies taking three years to settle and Sikorsky now seeking the requisite export approvals from the US government.
Dörtkaşli denied there was any underlying issue with the programme, stating that the two companies had not been sitting still waiting in the meantime and would be well-placed once the required approvals are gained.
Under the $3.5 billion programme, the aircraft will be assembled in Turkey by TAI using Western and Turkish components, while Aselsan will develop a new cockpit avionics system for the T-70.