Philippine To Receive Their Fifth and Sixth T129 ATAK Helicopters by End of 2023

The fifth and sixth T129 ATAK ordered by the Philippines will be delivered by end of 2023, the airframe maker Turkish Aerospace has said.

The helicopters are now in the final stages of assembly at Turkish Aerospace facility in Ankara and will undergo test flights soon, a Turkish Aerospace official told Asian Defence Journal.

The two helicopters will join the four that already arrived in country in March and November 2022.

Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana signed the contract for the acquisition of the Turkish attack helicopters in July 2020.

The six T129 attack helicopters were acquired for a total contract price of USD269,388,862 (about PHP12.9 billion) from the Turkish Aerospace Industries through a government-to-government mode of procurement under Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

The T129 is a twin-engine, tandem seat, multi-role, all-weather attack helicopter based on the Agusta A129 Mangusta platform and is designed for advanced attack and reconnaissance missions in hot and high environments and rough geography in both day and night conditions. The T129 first flew on Aug 17, 2011.

As part of the ATAK Programme, T129 ATAK helicopters will be delivered includes 91 helicopters in total to the Turkish Land Forces including 59 definitely and 32 optionally, 27 helicopters in total to the Ministry of Interior including 24 definitely and 3 optionally, 30 helicopters to the Pakistan Air Force and six helicopters to the Philippines Air Force.

The Philippine order does not include any industrial collaboration programme. However, there are requirements for additional attack helicopters to complete the squadron and/or for additional attack helicopter squadron –adj/mhi (Pix: Turkish Aerospace)