Turkish, Italian firms to co-produce attack copters

Turkey's Tusas Aerospace Industries (TAI) and Italy's Agusta Westland are set to start co-production of 50 and optional 40 attack helicopters. A new contract between TAI and Agusta Aerospace will be marked at a ceremony in Ankara on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul in attendance. TAI will be the local prime contractor, and Turkey's Aselsan and Italy's Agusta will be the subcontractors of the project to produce 90 attack and tactical reconnaissance helicopters produced using national software and hardware systems. Under the contract, Turkey will be a party to the intellectual property rights of the new configuration of helicopters. Turkey will also be the only resource for final assembly, flight procedures and the entire airframe production.