Indonesia and Turkey will cooperate to produce airplanes and helicopters

Istanbul, Turkey | August 31, 2008 by D-8 Secretariat

Turkey is proceeding with its long-standing contract between Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) and Italian firm AgustaWestland, with new attack helicopters set to go into production this week.

The historic event will be celebrated with a ceremony tomorrow at TAI’s main production facilities with the participation of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Minister of Defense Vecdi Gönül. The project was previously suspended because it lacked the necessary export license approvals from the US for the helicopter’s US-made engines and guns, sources close to the defense industry have said.

Due to state policy, technology transfer is a very difficult process for US companies and it is possible only with approval of Congress. The US had not honored Turkish requests for the technology for superior helicopter engines before the tender in early 2007, prompting Ankara to select AgustaWestland as the winner of the project. The SSM, AgustaWestland, TAI and local contractor Aselsan signed contracts worth around $2.7 billion for the production of A-129 attack helicopters in Turkey.

In the succesfully held Third D-8 Working Group on Civil Aviation and Director Generals’ Meeting in Bali, Indonesia, on 17-18 June 2008, D-8 Organization revealed that it seeks to strengthen cooperation in the field of Civil Aviation as it would help to increase the economic and social conditions of the D-8 people. Dipo Alam, the D-8 Secretary General, said that the D-8 cooperation in this field was in line with strong commitment from each memberstates to enhance the safety, security and services of the civil aviation in order to meet the requirement set by the International standard.

During the meeting, the flag carrier Garuda Indonesia forged partnership with Turkish Airlines to expand their market network in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Also was agreed the cooperation between TAI and PT Dirgantara Indonesia to manufacture civil aircrafts. With the manufacture of helicopters by the TAI, Secretary General of D-8 wished that the further cooperation could also be increased with the PT Dirgantara Indonesia, as the latter also has the capability to manufacture military and civilian helicopters.

Under an MoU agreement signed on Indonesia ’s Bali resort island, which came during the 3rd meeting of the Working Group of Civil Aviation of D-8 Countries, the Turkish Airlines and (Indonesian) Garuda Airlines agreed to jointly launch promotion to boost people traffic between Turkey and Indonesia.

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