Back to square one in attack helicopter plan

A decade after Turkey formally launched a competition to buy scores of attack helicopters, the delivery date for the gunships, if it ever comes, still remains many years away. Ankara is preparing to scrap the second international contest for the program.

Officially, there are two short-listed bidders: Italy's AgustaWestland, maker of the A-129 Mangusta International, and South African Denel Aviation, maker of the Rooivalk. Officially, one of them should win the $1.5 billion contract for an initial batch of 30 platforms. In reality, both contenders are far from victory. The reason? The military doesn't like their solutions.

Under pressure from the end-user, procurement authorities will likely cancel the existing competition, defense officials admit. �None of the short-listed solutions fully satisfies the end-user,� said one official. �We may renew the competition, or go for an off-the-shelf purchase. That's unknown for the moment.�

The contract has an option to eventually procure, co-produce or use a combination of the two to obtain a total of over 90 helicopter gunships. Meanwhile, a U.S. manufacturer, Boeing Co., has an outstanding offer to supply its AH-64D Apache Longbow through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales scheme.

A military official confirmed that �there was a substantial degree of discontent over the existing offers in the military.� He said that the fate of the contract would be decided after �discussions between the military and government flanks of the procurement mechanism.�

Turkey's top governmental panel that oversees procurement decisions will convene on Dec. 12 to discuss the attack helicopter program along with others, most notably a decision to opt for the U.S.-led Joint Strike Fighter F-35 fighter aircraft to meet the Turkish Air Force's new generation fighter requirement, a deal covering over 100 aircraft and worth over $10 billion.

�The attack helicopter program will be discussed, probably with no full agreement. There may or may not be an official announcement for the cancellation of the current bidding process,� a procurement official familiar with the program said. �But in any case it would not be realistic to expect any progress, with the military deeply dissatisfied over the existing bids.�

The Defense Industry Executive Committee is chaired by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and includes Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül, Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Büyükanıt and head of the procurement office, the Undersecretariat for the Defense Industry (SSM), Murad Bayar.

The decision to narrow the competition to two bidders meant two other contenders had been disqualified from the competition. They were: European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co. (EADS) subsidiary Eurocopter, maker of the Tiger; and Russia's Kamov, maker of the KA-50/2 Black Shark.

This summer, a Turkish Daily News article said that Büyükanıt �was not very sympathetic to the idea of having to choose between Italian and South African bidders.� It quoted a military official as saying that �none of the remaining options fully satisfied the military command from operational and technical viewpoints.�

AgustaWestland was formed by Italy's Agusta, part of Finmeccanica SpA, and Britain's GKN-Westland Helicopters in 2000. Originally designed by Agusta in 1978 for the Italian Army, the A129 Mangusta was the first attack helicopter wholly produced in Europe.

Specifically for the export market, its A129 version was developed later. But so far the A129 has not scored any export success, and its sole user is the Italian Army. In the anti-armor role, the A129 can carry either Hellfire or TOW missiles, or a mixture of both. For the anti-aircraft role, Stinger or Mistral missiles can be carried.

Developed in the 1990s, Denel Aviation's AH-2 Rooivalk is being used by the South African Air Force, and so far has not been exported. It can carry Mokopa long-range anti-armor missiles and Mistral air-to-air missiles.

Turkey's plans to buy scores of attack helicopters originally date back to the mid-1990s, but efforts so far have come to nothing. Turkey's new attack helicopter program came after a similar project failed last year. In that now-defunct program, Turkey in 2000 selected Bell for coproduction of 50 AH-1Z King Cobras. But after four years of talks failed because of disputes on price, technology transfer and licensing problems, Ankara in May 2004 cancelled the whole process and decided to launch a new international tender.

ANKARA - TDN Defense Desk, LINK