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Turkey signed a US$1.5-billion deal to supply Pakistan with 30 Turkish-made T129 ATAK helicopters, Reuters has reported. The T129 ATAK is outfitted with about 76 rockets for close air support and advanced electronic war armaments and can undertake high-altitude missions with heavy artillery.
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Turkey’s Defense Industry Undersecretariat, in a statement, confirmed that the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) completed the deal with the Pakistan Defense Production Ministry. The deal reportedly also includes support on logistics, spare parts, education and ammunition.
"Contract negotiations on T129 ATAK helicopters between Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) and the Pakistani Ministry of Defense Production were finalized."
The release disclosed that the deal is the largest single export in the history of the Turkish defense industry.
Turkey recently secured a tender to build four corvettes – a small warship – for the Pakistani Navy.
“A tender opened by the Pakistan Navy to supply four corvettes has just been concluded and Turkey has won the tender,” Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli said earlier this month.
The corvettes will be 99.56 meters long and 14.42 meters wide with a maximum speed of 26 knots, and be able to cruise uninterruptedly for 15 days. Canikli further explained that two of the corvettes will be built in Istanbul Shipyard and two in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi.
“It is [a] multi-billion dollar project and Turkey has undertaken such a sophisticated project for the first time in the international arena. Negotiations were going on for over six months. They have been completed after a really difficult and exhaustive period, and the agreement was signed today,” Canikli said about the corvettes.
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