Turkey Finally Lands Upgraded Attack Helicopters

Turkey has been looking to modernize its attack helicopter fleet since the mid-1990s, but the process has mostly served as an object lesson in how not to buy defense equipment. DID has covered difficulties with this competition before; after numerous snafus, technology transfer and production issues, and canceled competitions, all 3 invited American manufacturers had abandoned the competition entirely.

In July 2006, Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul announced that Turkey would continue talks with Denel of South Africa (AH-2A Rooivalk) and Agusta Aerospace of Italy (A129 International) for Turkey's Land Forces Command's Tactical Reconnaissance & Attack Helicopter (ATAK) Project. The Franco-German EADS Eurocopter (Tiger) and Kamov of Russia (Ka-50-2 Erdogan with IAI) were eliminated.

Neither of the finalists had been exported before, and at the time they were competing for co-production of 30 helicopters with options for another 20 more. That projected $1.6 billion contract was still well short of the 91 attack helicopters originally called for when the program began. Still, it was progress.