TR Attack & Utility Helicopter Programs

[MonteCarlo]

Another unspecified amount of GÖKBEY delivery for the land forces.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2072616851230609719

 

[MonteCarlo]

Police force will receive their first GÖKBEY helicopter in 2 weeks and second one will be delivered in August

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2074519860999057408

 

[Fairon]

Recently delivered OGM Gökbey

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2077733537180946838

Doesn't look like Gökbey. Looks more like AW109.

 

[Pokemonte13]

Doesn't look like Gökbey. Looks more like AW109.

It is. It’s a leased Aw109 couple of months back

 

[MonteCarlo]

It is. It’s a leased Aw109 couple of months back

Idk how Defence Turk manage to mess it up that bad. Normally they are pretty reliable

 

[Strong AI]

HOT DEVELOPMENT | TUSAŞ General Manager Mehmet Demiroğlu:

"(Regarding the T70 General Purpose Helicopter) At the beginning of this year, we reached an agreement with Sikorsky. For another 39 units and we obtained the export license for that program. We do not see any problems regarding this."

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2079592370891280400

 

[Yasar_TR]

HOT DEVELOPMENT | TUSAŞ General Manager Mehmet Demiroğlu:

"(Regarding the T70 General Purpose Helicopter) At the beginning of this year, we reached an agreement with Sikorsky. For another 39 units and we obtained the export license for that program. We do not see any problems regarding this."

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2079592370891280400

Great news to hear that they have come to an agreement with Sikorsky.

But above newspiece in X says something vague in Turkish. The translation is not exact as the Turkish part doesn’t make sense.

According to the wording there :

He says “at the beginning of the year we reached an agreement with Sikorsky”.
OK ! But….
We had a program of 109 T70 helicopters to produce under licence. Also potentially for up to 600 helicopters were to be produced for us and Export markets including the 109 initial production run.
Approval was granted for the production of approximately 38 units in the initial phase of the program. However, continuation of production for the remaining 71 units depended on the U.S. Congress approving license renewals.

So my understanding from above is that the permission to manufacture the remaining 71 units were granted too.
Also; Presumably the production of that 38 or 39 units for the initial phase was halted after approximately a dozen or so were delivered. Now that initial phase is agreed upon. Plus the 71 units and whatever we can export.

 

[Fairon]

So what will happen to T925 now?

 

[Strong AI]

Great news to hear that they have come to an agreement with Sikorsky.

But above newspiece in X says something vague in Turkish. The translation is not exact as the Turkish part doesn’t make sense.

According to the wording there :

He says “at the beginning of the year we reached an agreement with Sikorsky”.
OK ! But….
We had a program of 109 T70 helicopters to produce under licence. Also potentially for up to 600 helicopters were to be produced for us and Export markets including the 109 initial production run.
Approval was granted for the production of approximately 38 units in the initial phase of the program. However, continuation of production for the remaining 71 units depended on the U.S. Congress approving license renewals.

So my understanding from above is that the permission to manufacture the remaining 71 units were granted too.
Also; Presumably the production of that 38 or 39 units for the initial phase was halted after approximately a dozen or so were delivered. Now that initial phase is agreed upon. Plus the 71 units and whatever we can export.

T-70 Program Returns to Execution

Demiroğlu also announced that the T-70 Utility Helicopter Program had returned to active execution following the resolution of export licensing and contractual issues. Under the original program, Türkiye planned to manufacture 109 T-70 helicopters based on the Sikorsky S-70i platform for several government users. Demiroğlu said an agreement had been reached with Sikorsky at the beginning of 2026 for an additional batch of 39 helicopters and that the required export authorization had been obtained.

Although the licensing process caused delays compared with the original schedule, Turkish Aerospace expects to restart platform manufacturing within approximately 18 months. Addressing questions concerning the relationship between the delay and the US sanctions imposed under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, Demiroğlu said CAATSA sanctions did not apply to every Turkish institution involved in the program.

He noted that the end users of the T-70, including the Ministry of National Defence, the Turkish Air Force, the Turkish Land Forces and the Gendarmerie General Command, were not themselves subject to CAATSA sanctions. Turkish Aerospace subsequently introduced contractual changes in consultation with Sikorsky, the US Government and the Turkish Government, allowing the program to resume. “We found a way, and now it is back in execution,” Demiroğlu said.

A total of 38 T-70 helicopters have already been completed. The additional batch of 39 aircraft would increase the total to 77 helicopters. Demiroğlu stated that Turkish Aerospace also has the necessary authorization to complete the remaining 32 helicopters included in the original 109-aircraft program, should Türkiye decide to proceed with the entire planned quantity. For the time being, however, the company is focused on the new batch of 39 helicopters.

Turkish Aerospace Details KAAN, T-70, T-925 and HÜRJET Roadmaps at Farnborough 2026

Turkish Aerospace President and CEO Mehmet Demiroğlu provided updates on several of the company’s principal military and civil aviation programs during a press conference held at the Farnborough Inter

defenceturkey.com

 

[Strong AI]

So what will happen to T925 now?

T-925 Expected to Address Long-Term Heavy Helicopter Demand

Demiroğlu rejected suggestions that the renewed T-70 program could reduce the importance of the domestically developed T-925 Heavy Utility Helicopter. He said the T-70 acquisition primarily addresses the immediate requirements of Turkish government operators, whereas the T-925 is being developed to meet the substantially larger rotary-wing replacement requirement expected to emerge from the early 2030s onward.

Turkish Aerospace estimates that more than 200 helicopters currently operated by the Turkish Armed Forces could require replacement between 2030 and 2040. Demiroğlu said the T-925 was being positioned to address a significant portion of this requirement.

The company also expects the aircraft to generate considerable international demand. Demiroğlu estimated that potential export requirements could account for a further 200 helicopters. Taking domestic and international opportunities into consideration, Turkish Aerospace believes that the potential production volume for the T-925 could reach approximately 400 to 500 aircraft over the next 10 to 15 years.

Turkish Aerospace Details KAAN, T-70, T-925 and HÜRJET Roadmaps at Farnborough 2026

Turkish Aerospace President and CEO Mehmet Demiroğlu provided updates on several of the company’s principal military and civil aviation programs during a press conference held at the Farnborough Inter

defenceturkey.com

 

[Ripley]

Demiroğlu rejected suggestions that the renewed T-70 program could reduce the importance of the domestically developed T-925 Heavy Utility Helicopter.

Beautiful answer from Mr. Demiroğlu and yet I’m not relieved to hear that because..

Turkish Aerospace estimates that more than 200 helicopters currently operated by the Turkish Armed Forces could require replacement between 2030 and 2040. Demiroğlu said the T-925 was being positioned to address a significant portion of this requirement.

he is targeting 2030s into 40s for replacement of current fleet.
My concern is that T-925 can not be object of a replacement program but should be a placement program.
Various branches of Turkish Armed Forces are deficient in some mission capabilities due to lack of such large size aircraft. Also, Considering that the special service branches are planned to be increased in numbers and size, such helis are now critical for almost every independent mission for the services mentioned.
We can’t lag our feet. We need to start right now to make these critical assets available only in 10-15 years for such force wielding, mission capability increase.

Also, I’ve been thinking lately, what is our ultimate goal? What is our priority? Is it to design, produce hardware for our army, to meet its current and future needs domestically free of yoke of foreign suppliers OR to make market research for probable export markets, satisfy the needs of foreign customers and than go for our urgent needs?

Before you answer, please consider the fact that any hardware approved and operated by the Turkish Armed Forces is an A+ universal approval pass.

 

[Pokemonte13]

Also, I’ve been thinking lately, what is our ultimate goal? What is our priority? Is it to design, produce hardware for our army, to meet its current and future needs domestically free of yoke of foreign suppliers OR to make market research for probable export markets, satisfy the needs of foreign customers and than go for our urgent needs?

Before you answer, please consider the fact that any hardware approved and operated by the Turkish Armed Forces is an A+ universal approval pass.

T925 is going to be an alternative to the medium helicopters offered by other countries our competition in that segment is large:
US Blackhawk (the production line will probably go dark in the next 10 years once the replacement program goes into full effect)
Airbus Nh90 and Puma/Cougar family
Leonardo AW101(a bit bigger but with TS3000 it would be very similar)
And some russian and chinese but they don't sell that many if the buyer has options
Biggest issue is finding a customer that wants a medium to heavy helicopter as most prefer light helicopters.
But with NH90 terrible track record only the Italians and French are direct competitors although those platforms are a bit old.
Overall i expect our own demand to be well over 200 easily not just to replace but to expand it could easily reach 300 as most of our medium sized helicopter are nearing there end only T70 will remain and T925 after 2040.
Our needs satisfy the expectations full as most countries don't need what we want. But overall i think gökbey will see more success domestically and abroad as i believe that our armed Forces will use them more than before.

 

[Ripley]

T925 is going to be an alternative to the medium helicopters offered by other countries our competition in that segment is large:
US Blackhawk (the production line will probably go dark in the next 10 years once the replacement program goes into full effect)
Airbus Nh90 and Puma/Cougar family
Leonardo AW101(a bit bigger but with TS3000 it would be very similar)
And some russian and chinese but they don't sell that many if the buyer has options
Biggest issue is finding a customer that wants a medium to heavy helicopter as most prefer light helicopters.
But with NH90 terrible track record only the Italians and French are direct competitors although those platforms are a bit old.
Overall i expect our own demand to be well over 200 easily not just to replace but to expand it could easily reach 300 as most of our medium sized helicopter are nearing there end only T70 will remain and T925 after 2040.
Our needs satisfy the expectations full as most countries don't need what we want. But overall i think gökbey will see more success domestically and abroad as i believe that our armed Forces will use them more than before.

OK. Sounds good. Then, since we can and actually replacing old bodies with T70, why not size/beef up the T925? Why not emphasize on TS3000, like you pointed, that would fire up a larger heli easily when tripled for every military need and role, particularly as cargo mules.
You see, my concern is that they may shift their focus to civilian market needs more than necessary - and yet worse than that - I’m getting a bit scared that our object might be shaped by export or joint venture more than our military needs. That’s all.

 

[Pokemonte13]

OK. Sounds good. Then, since we can and actually replacing old bodies with T70, why not size/beef up the T925? Why not emphasize on TS3000, like you pointed, that would fire up a larger heli easily when tripled for every military need and role, particularly as cargo mules.
You see, my concern is that they may shift their focus to civilian market needs more than necessary - and yet worse than that - I’m getting a bit scared that our object might be shaped by export or joint venture more than our military needs. That’s all.

Lets first make a medium one and then we will see its a work in progress