Tag: next-generation helicopter

  • Exclusive: U.S. considers unusual arms deal for Turkey

    Exclusive: U.S. considers unusual arms deal for Turkey

    By Jim Wolf

    WASHINGTON | Thu Oct 27, 2011 5:55pm EDT

    helic cobra01

    (Reuters) – The Obama administration is consulting Congress on an unusual proposal to transfer U.S. Marine Corps attack helicopters to Turkey, U.S. officials said on Thursday, as Ankara tries to exact revenge for a major attack by Kurdish separatists.

    Turkey, a NATO ally, has been seeking AH-1 SuperCobra helicopters to replace those lost in its long struggle against separatist rebels from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

    Under the administration’s plan, the Marines would get two new, late-model Textron Inc Bell AH-1Z SuperCobras in exchange for the three AH-1W aircraft that would be transferred to Ankara from current inventory, a congressional official said.

    The officials declined to be identified because of the matter’s sensitivity and because they were not authorized to speak on the record. The idea to take weapons from the U.S. arsenal was rare, they said.

    The proposal has been held up amid lawmakers’ questions about increasingly distant relations between Muslim-majority Turkey and Israel, a key U.S. ally, among other matters.

    The AH-1W has sold previously for about $10 million. Turkey bought 10 of them in the 1990s. The larger, twin-engine AH-IZ may sell for about $30 million, according to industry sources.

    Under the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, the executive branch must provide 15 days’ formal notice to Congress before going ahead with significant arms transfers to a NATO partner. It was not immediately clear when such notice might take place, with informal congressional consultations continuing.

    Turkey last week launched air and ground assaults on Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, vowing to exact “great revenge” after 24 Turkish troops were killed on October 19 in one of the deadliest Kurdish attacks in years.

    The PKK is designated a terrorist group by the United States. It is waging a 27-year-old war from bases inside Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region. The administration’s proposal to transfer the helicopters pre-dates the October 19 attack on Turkish forces near the border with Iraq.

    The United States and Turkey have a strong tradition of military cooperation, both bilaterally and inside the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

    Turkey agreed last month to host a powerful U.S.-supplied radar system to act as advanced eyes for a layered shield against ballistic missiles coming from outside Europe.

    The AN/TPY-2 surveillance radar in Turkey will boost the shield’s capability against Iran, which Washington alleges is seeking to build nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.

    (Editing by Eric Walsh)

    via Exclusive: U.S. considers unusual arms deal for Turkey | Reuters.

  • Turkey to select next-generation helicopter

    Turkey to select next-generation helicopter

    Monday, October 26, 2009

    ÜMİT ENGİNSOY

    ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News

    A15Turkey 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.

    Hürriyet Daily News