Turkish Aerospace Industries Plans to Export Helicopter Engines, Components

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) which has developed the T700-TEI-701D engine to power the locally-made T-70 Black Hawk helicopter, expects to export the engine and some of its major components after it acquires the required certification.

Mahmut Faruk Akşit, general manager and CEO of TUSAŞ Engine Industries (TEI), a TAI subsidiary told Anadolu Agency (AA) that nearly 50% of all of the engine components have been localized.

The T-70 rotorcraft is based on Sikorsky’s S-70i Black Hawk. Engines that power the aircraft are currently being produced in company facilities in central Eskişehir province within the scope of the General-Purpose Helicopter Program (GMHP), one of Turkey's most important aviation programs.

Akşit said TEI has come to manufacture almost every part of the engine at its facilities, including the combustion chamber, which is the most critical hot zone part.

“We have completed almost all of the qualification tests. There is a final test, and when we pass it, we will be able to sell the combustion chamber to the world market with a certificate, and if we can make an agreement with General Electric (GE), we will be able to sell it to them,” he said.

The company so far has produced 47 T700-TEI-701D engines and delivered 36 of them to TAI. The rest will also be delivered after completing the qualification tests. Production rate is nearly one engine per week.