Turkey Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Turkey signs deal for local Black Hawk production

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• 10 JUNE, 2016
  
• BY: TOLGA OZBEK
  
• ISTANBUL

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has finally signed a long-awaited $3.5 billion deal with Sikorsky to begin production of 109 T-70 rotorcraft – a locally assembled variant of the S-70i export Black Hawk – destined for a number of the country's armed services and government agencies.

Driven by Ankara's SSM undersecretariat for defence industries under its Turkish Utility Helicopter programme, the contract brings in other local partners including Turkish Engine Industries (TEI), Aselsan and Alp Aviation.

TEI will licence-build the T-70's GE Aviation T700 engines, Aselsan is to produce and assemble landing gears, gearboxes, and other dynamic components, and Alp Aviation will develop and integrate basic avionics systems, as well as co-developing with Sikorsky an enhanced digital cockpit.

Turkish Aerospace Industries

Deliveries to the Turkish army, air force, gendarmerie, police and forestry ministry are due to commence in 2021, running until 2026. The army and navy already operate around 80 examples of the Black Hawk, Flightglobal's Fleets Analyzer database reveals.

Negotiations on the deal have been ongoing since Ankara selected the T-70 in 2011. No indication has been given whether TAI will be able to sell the Turkish-built helicopters to other nations, as had previously been indicated.

Sikorsky currently produces the S-70i at its PZL Mielec subsidiary in Poland.

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Jura said:

after 01:00, former

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is sent to the bottom, by a sub I failed to identify which used the torpedo(es) ... MD2A4 is my guess
(I liked most the 3" Super Rapido firing sequence since 01:47

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A video released by the Turkish Navy shows a retired Turkish frigate, which was formerly a U.S. Navy ship, being sunk by a torpedo during the exercise Beyaz Fırtına (White Storm) held in May 2016.

The video covers the entire exercise spectrum but the moment which shows a Turkish submarine submerging to deploy the torpedo begins at 01:00.

Responsible for the stunning imagery is the Atlas Elektronik-manufactured DM2A4 SeaHake heavyweight torpedo which is considered as one of the most modern and effective heavyweight torpedoes in world.

The torpedo can be launched from both submarines and surface vessels. Because it is controlled via a fibre-optic cable once it is launched, it allows greater accuracy and is more resistant to defensive measures.

TCG Zafer, as the ship was known since 1993 when it was transferred to the Turkish Navy, was formerly a U.S. Navy Knox-class frigate which served as USS Thomas C. Hart since July 1973.

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asif iqbal said:

3rd Ada class ready for launch

4th steel is cut and under construction

F513 to join F511 and F512

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asif iqbal said:

Good news the 3rd Ada class has been launched

We can see the module of the 4th

The 4 units constitute the Ada class

Next 4 are improved varients with VLS

Turkish navy a growing power in the sea

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Maritime Executive said:

At a ceremony at a naval shipyard in Istanbul, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey would soon begin the design and production of a domestically built aircraft carrier.

"There isn't any obstacle to producing our own aircraft carrier. It is possible with this determined government and state," he said. "Turkey cannot fall into laziness in the defense and military issues. The strategic point of our country doesn't allow this."

The timeline is extended, however: Erdogan said that the yard would not begin work on a carrier until after the delivery of the high-specification amphibious assault vessel Anadolu, expected early next decade. The Anadolu will be based on the design of the Spanish multipurpose amphib Juan Carlos I, which has a ski jump for short take off and landing and a complement of Harrier II jump jets. The vessel could also accommodate the new F-35.

Turkey is a NATO ally and a strategic partner for the U.S. in the war against ISIS. Its government allows American forces the use of Incirlik Airbase in southern Turkey for bombing operations in Syria. However, the partnership is uneasy of late: Erdogan is engaged in an active anti-insurgency campaign against the Kurdish nationalist group PKK within Turkey's borders – he says that his troops have killed as many as 7,500 of its members since last year – while the U.S.

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PKK-linked Kurdish forces in Syria, where they comprise the majority of ground troops in American-backed efforts to fight ISIS.

Additionally, Erdogan is increasingly perceived in the West as an authoritarian, anti-democratic ruler: he has recently ousted his prime minister, who was the architect of a landmark immigration deal with the EU, and he has cracked down on domestic criticism over the past few years, filing nearly 2,000 criminal cases against journalists, politicians and others for the offense of insulting the president.

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