As of February 2022 TEI had delivered 50 T700-TEI-701D engines to TAI. If TEI carried on production at their planned 1 engine per week rate, there could be another 20 engines in stock now.Thank you. So T-70 program was practically killed by USA. It would be fine if TUSAŞ didn't continue.
For this reason, TUSAŞ started to plan a general purpose helicopter that uses a joint infrastructure with Atak-2 and will be navalized from the very beginning.
That's how I understood the situation.
The production quantities may have dwindled. But there are all those engines that need helicopters.
These engines are 60HP more powerful than the original T70 engines. They are not cheap. They need to go on the helicopters that we actually need to be operating.
It would be interesting to see how this impasse is resolved.
Until we have a replacement engine and a helicopter to take it’s place we have to find a way to carry on manufacturing them.
TEI, Delivered the 50th T700-TEI-701D Engine for Utility Helicopter | savunmahaber.com
The 50th T700-TEI-701D turboshaft engine produced for Utility Helicopter Project (UHP) run by Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB) successfully passed its acceptance tests done by Turkish Aerospace.
www.savunmahaber.com
EDIT :
The CAATSA sanctions that were imposed on us were very specific. It did not cover previous contractual agreements with Turkish MOD.
“The sanctions include a ban on all U.S. export licenses and authorizations to SSB and an asset freeze and visa restrictions on Dr. Ismail Demir, SSB’s president, and other SSB officers.”
So I find it difficult to understand how production of S-70 helicopters are affected by the CAATSA sanctions.
If it was mentioned that there is a covered embargo of sorts in place I can understand. But CAATSA excuse is not logical.
The United States Sanctions Turkey Under CAATSA 231
Secretary Pompeo (December 14, 2020) - "Today, the United States is imposing sanctions on the Republic of Turkey’s Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) pursuant to Section 231 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) for knowingly engaging in a significant...
gr.usembassy.gov
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