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Turkey to sell 30 ATAK helicopters to Pakistan in major military export deal

Friday, 13 July 2018 12:51 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 13 July 2018 12:55 PM ]

This file picture shows a TAI/AgustaWestland T129 ATAK multi-role and all-weather attack helicopter in flight.

Turkey and Pakistan have finalized a deal for the sale of 30 multi-role and all-weather TAI/AgustaWestland T129 ATAK attack helicopters in an agreement that has been billed as one of Ankara’s largest single defense industry exports.

“Contract negotiations on T129 ATAK helicopters between Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) and the Pakistani Ministry of Defense Production were finalized,” Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency cited the Turkish Defense Industries Undersecretariat (SSB) as saying on Friday.

Military sources, requesting anonymity, said the helicopters will be delivered gradually over five years, and that the TAI has also agreed to provide logistics, spare parts, training, and ammunition services.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Anadolu in November 2017, former Pakistani Minister for Defense Production and Minister for Science and Technology Rana Tanveer Hussain said his country planned to procure 30 attack helicopters and four naval ships from Turkey.

On July 5, Turkish Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli said Ankara had won a tender to build four corvettes for the Pakistan Navy, describing the deal as “the largest defense export of Turkey in one agreement.”

“A tender opened by the Pakistan Navy to supply four corvettes has just been concluded and Turkey has won the tender,” Canikli told reporters during an official visit to Montenegro.

He added, “It is [a] multi-billion dollar project and Turkey has undertaken such a sophisticated project for the first time in the international arena. Negotiations were going on for over six months. They have been completed after a really difficult and exhaustive period, and the agreement was signed today.”

This file picture shows a Turkish Ada class MİLGEM (National Ship) corvette. (Photo by Anadolu news agency)

Under the agreement, two ships will be built in Istanbul and two others in Karachi. Two corvettes will join the inventory of the Pakistan Navy in 2023 and the remaining two in 2024.

The deal also includes sharing engineering information and training engineers.

The first ship will be manufactured in 54 months, while the remainder will be built in 60, 66 and 72 months respectively.

The corvettes, which will be able to cruise uninterruptedly for 15 days, will be 99.56 meters long and 14.42 meters wide with a maximum speed of 26 knots.

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