Philippine defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana signed the contract for the
acquisition of the turkish attack
helicopters in july last
year. The philippine air force is
looking to acquire dedicated but
affordable attack helicopters to beef up
its fleet of lightly armed helicopters, such as the mg 520 and aw109e which are
being used for terror and ground support
missions. The TAI slash augusta westland T-129 ATAK is a twin-engine, tandem seat, multi-role
all-weather attack helicopter based on
the augusta a129 mangusta platform.
The T-129 was developed by turkish
aerospace industries TAI 1 with partner
augusta westland. The helicopter is designed for advanced
attack and reconnaissance missions in
hot and high environments and rough
geography in both day and night
conditions. The T-129 is the result of the
integration of turkish developed
avionics, airframe modifications and
weapon systems onto the augusta westland A-129 airframe with upgraded engines, transmission and rotor blades. It is in use by the turkish army and
other services including the Turkish John D'armary.
The T-129 ATAK helicopter also equipped
with advanced electronic warfare and
countermeasure systems which increase
survival capability in the battlefield. The T-129 ATAK can be used in the
anti-armor, armed reconnaissance, ground
attack, escort, asymmetrical fire support
and short-range anti-aircraft rolls. The T-129 ATAK is equipped with a 20
millimeters three-barrel rotary cannon
in a nose turret with 500 ammunitions
capacity and up to 76 unguided 70
millimeters rockets for close air
support.
The helicopter is also equipped with up
to eight hunters 160 millimeters long
range anti-tank missiles, sixteen sir at
seventy millimeters missiles, eight air
launched stinger short range air-to-air
missiles. The electronic warfare and
countermeasure systems of the helicopter
features radar warning receiver system
rias radar frequency mixer system and laser receiver system.
The T-129 ATAK is optimized for hot and
high conditions, performance requirements
against challenging geographical and
environmental conditions in night and
day operations. It has several key improvements over the
original A-129 inline with the
requirements of the turkish army. The T-129 ATAK helicopter equipped with
hunter Koska integrated control system
specially designed for the helicopter.
The system enables the automatic
orientation of target detection and
weapon systems to the pilot's line of
sight with its high tracking accuracy. The helicopter also equipped with a
dedicated electro optical fleur system
of selfler 300t for multi-purpose
missions manufactured by turkish company
aselson. The T-129 is a twin-engine, tandem seat, multi-role all-weather attack helicopter
based on the Augusta A-129 Mangusta
platform and further developed in turkey
which is designed for advanced attack
and reconnaissance missions in hot, high
environments and adverse geographical
conditions, both day and night
defense secretary.
Delfin Lorenzana
signed the contract for the procurement
of the turkish attack helicopters in
july last year. In may this year the u.s approved the
export license needed for turkey to sell
the helicopters to the philippines. The us approval for the export of these
helicopters was necessary as the
helicopters are powered by u.s engines. It is the tech T-800-4a which is an export variant of
the CTS-800 engine jointly developed by Honeywell and Rolls-Royce. It has a length of 0.85 m a diameter of
0.56 m weighs about 154 kilograms and
develops a power output of 1014
kilowatts.
The T-129 carries two of these. The PAF is looking to acquire
specialized but affordable attack
helicopters to reinforce its fleet of
armed helicopters such as the MG-520 and AW-109E which are used for counter terrorism
missions and support to ground units.
Morocco would be another potential
customer for the T-129 ATAK which would
have been negotiating the acquisition
since 2018, but the same would have been
slowed down by the sanctions imposed by
the trump administration on turkey under Katsa countering america's adversaries
through sanctions act law following the
purchase of russian S-400 anti-aircraft
systems. Under the new biden administration these
sanctions are being progressively eased
which is expected to lead to morocco's
purchase of the T-129 sooner rather than
later.
T-129 ATAK is a new generation, tandem
two-seat twin-engine helicopter
specifically designed for attack and
reconnaissance purposes. T-129 atak developed from the combat
proven augusta westland A-129 CBT. Incorporates totally new system
philosophy with new engines latex cts
800-4a new avionics, visionix and weapons, modified airframe uprated drivetrain and
new tail rotor.
The T-129 ATAK is the helicopter selected
in 2007 by the government of turkey for
the turkish land forces. Development and
production will be assured by the atak
team, a joint partnership of turkish
aerospace industries incorporated tai
and augusta westland.Tthe first tai manufactured helicopter
was delivered to turkish land forces.
