First flight of the T-129 in August
Posted on 09/22/2011 8:08:36 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Saudi Air Force seeks to purchase modern attack helicopters from Turkey
The newspaper reported that Turkish officials entered into negotiations with their Saudi counterparts about the aircraft "T -129", which conducted its first test flight last month
Abdul Nabi Shaheen, Correspondent
Published: 14:35 September 22, 2011
Riyadh: The Saudi army requested from Turkey to engage in a tender for the production of attack helicopters for the Royal Saudi Air Force, said the Turkish newspaper, Sabah, on Thursday.
The newspaper reported that Turkish officials entered into negotiations with their Saudi counterparts about the aircraft "T -129", which conducted its first test flight last month.
Its production is expected to start in a large numbers in middle of next year, but the newspaper did not mention the source of the information.
The Turkish T-129 helicopter was originally an upgraded version of the Italian helicopter A-129. Turkey signed a $3.2 million dollar agreement with Italy to purchase the rights to manufacture these helicopters.
T -129, which is made entirely in Turkey, features high combat technology with Turkish-made navigation and targeting devices instead of Italian.
First flight of the T-129 in August
I hear they have state of the art screen doors and missle catching technology.
thanks Obama, now our friends the Saudi’s are turning away from us.....lost jobs!!!! Just like not selling new F 16s to Taiwan and India. More lost Jobs. Obviously not part of his Jobs Plan. 8-(
Zero crew protection. Looks like it’s going to be a real turkey shoot.
The Mi28 looks different from the Turkish/Italian bird.
Mi28:
The closest, looks wise, to the Turkish copter is the Mangusta (which it was totally based on), the Eurocopter Tiger (looks wise quite similar), and the South African Rooivalk (similar looks wise, but larger in size).
Italian Mangusta (the basis for the Turkish copter):
Tiger:
Rooivalk:
Thanks for the info and pics.
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