Turkey, Sikorsky creating joint venture to produce military helicopters

Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 26 By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend: Turkey and the US-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation are creating a joint venture to produce military helicopters, the Turkish newspaper Sabah reported Sept. 26. Military helicopters produced by the US-Turkey joint venture, will be subsequently delivered to countries in Africa and the Middle East. The joint venture will be located in Ankara. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. is also planned to open its office in Turkey. Earlier, it was reported that the joint venture for the production of military helicopters in Turkey was planned to be created in the first half of this year. In this regard, Turkey and Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. earlier inked a deal worth $3.5 billion. Under the agreement it was planned to manufacture 109 military helicopters in the first phase. The talks between the Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. and the Ministry of Defense Industry of Turkey on establishment of a joint venture started in 2010. In recent years, the Turkish defense industry has focused on the development and manufacture of its own products, as well as the acquisition of military equipment. Turkey also managed to achieve a self-sufficiency level of 54 percent in the defence industry.