Turkish Forum

Tag: SSM

  • Turkey to produce its national light helicopter

    Turkey to produce its national light helicopter

    ÜMİT ENGİNSOY

    ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News

    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.

    turkey to produce its national light helicopter 2011 10 23 l

    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.

    via Turkey to produce its national light helicopter – Hurriyet Daily News.

  • Turkey to co-produce pilotless Navy copters

    Turkey to co-produce pilotless Navy copters

    ÜMİT ENGİNSOY

    ANKARA- Hürriyet Daily News

    taiA new program for the co-production of unmanned helicopters worth hundreds of millions of dollars has been launched by military and procurement authorities to boost Turkey’s naval intelligence capabilities, a procurement official said on the weekend.

    The Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM), Turkey’s procurement agency, will formally start the program soon. Requests for proposal will likely be released before the end of the year, the official said on condition of anonymity. “The competition will be open to foreign bidders, but they will have to agree to work with a Turkish prime contractor,” the official said.

    The local prime contractor will most likely be Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) based near Ankara, industry sources said. Last December TAI successfully performed test flights for the Sivrisinek (Mosquito), its first small unmanned helicopter prototype, which is equipped with the Cirit (Javelin), a rocket developed by Turkish missile maker Roketsan.

    The co-production program will involve an initial batch of up to 30 unmanned helicopters, all to be acquired by the Navy. Initial specification for the planned unmanned platform is a range of 180 kilometers and a flight time of up to 10 hours, procurement officials said. In its first test flight, the Sivrisinek was airborne for 90 minutes. According to planned contract specifications, the unmanned helicopters must perform vertical take-off and landing since they will be operated from naval platforms. The unmanned helicopters will initially be deployed on a landing platform dock (LPD) Turkey plans to acquire, but in later stages of the program, they will operate using Turkish corvettes and frigates as bases.

    UAVs either self-directed or remote controlled

    An unmanned or pilotless aircraft (UAV) can function either by remote control by a navigator or pilot, or autonomously as a self-directing entity. In the military most types are used for surveillance purposes, while the U.S. General Atomics’ MQ-9 Reaper is an armed version.

    Most Army and Air Force drones are pilotless aircraft with large wings as they utilize long runways for take-off and landing. But since naval platforms usually lack runways, UAVs used by the Navy are pilotless helicopters. As there is no risk of loss of personnel, UAVs can be used for risky missions. Turkey’s UAV efforts mainly are related to the country’s fight against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants. In the 1990s, Turkey utilized 10 platforms bought from the U.S. General Atomics. In recent years, such platforms were obtained from Israel. Turkey presently has in its inventory nine IAI Heron UAVs for anti-terrorism surveillance but plans to buy a small number of MQ-1 Predator drones from the United States. Meanwhile, its own program to produce the Anka drone has faced technical problems.

    via Turkey to co-produce pilotless Navy copters – Hurriyet Daily News.