ANKARA (Turkey), March 5 (SeeNews) – U.S. aircraft producer Skiorsky Aircraft Corp said it has agreed with the Turkish government and local aerospace contractors to license the Turkish aerospace industry to manufacture 109 T-70 helicopters for the government and to assemble 109 S-70i helicopters for Sikorsky.
“The agreements license the transfer of certain manufacturing technology to Turkish industry, and provide for the potential to produce up to a total of 600 aircraft, including both T-70 units for Turkish indigenous use and S-70i aircraft for export over the next 30 years”, Sikorsky said in a statement on Tuesday.
T-70 helicopters are Turkish variants of Sikorsky’s S-70i International Black Hawk helicopters.
Following the agreements, signed under the $3.5 billion (2.6 billion euro) Turkish Utility Helicopter Programme carried out by the Turkish Undersecretariat for Defence Industries, Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc will be the prime contractor for the production and assembly of T-70 in Turkey for use by the Turkish government. The components for the aircraft will be supplied by Sikorsky and other US and Turkish companies. Local defense company Aselsan will develop a new cockpit avionics system for T-70.
Sikorsky will also expand the production capacity of Turkish aerospace company Alp Aviation, in which it holds a 50% stake.
($ = 0.729 euro)