Why the Turkish helicopter? The thing is that if a newer engine is not developed it will always be sanction prone because of course the turbo shaft is IP of the US. You won't get any of those same type of sanctions with China or maybe even with Russia. There is a lot of hype of it I think because it is made by a Muslim country and this is biasing a lot of people towards Turkish helicopters but frankly Turkey is new to the business while Russia, and China are not.
Personally I think the cheapest option would be to buy Jordanian Ah-1s for sale that can of course can be upgraded and their life cycle extended by at least 20 years. Jordan is apparently selling off 17 as well as a bunch of their aircraft which BD could also buy that would help them expand their inventory such as C-295, and C-130B.
The Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) has put its two AC-235 gunships up for sale, along with its Sikorsky UH-60L fleet. Separate announcements made on the air force’s official website on December 24 (UH-60s) and 28 (AC-235s) brought the offers into the public domain. They add to a series of declarations in the summer in which a number of other types were made available for purchase as part of a major RJAF fleet rationalization and cost-reduction effort.
In the 2018 releases, a single Lockheed C-130B was offered for sale along with 12 Hawk Mk 63 trainers and 13 Bell UH-1H utility helicopters on July 8, followed by 17 Bell AH-1F Cobras equipped with the NTS (Night Targeting System) and two Airbus C295 medium airlifters on July 12.
Same upgrade could be done to Bengali Ah-1s that adds Hellfire's as well as many other features that again would extend service life until 2039 from todays date.
https://www.arabianaerospace.aero/modernised-cobras-give-rjaf-extra-bite.html
@BDforever Agree with this? Or off-topic?
Turkish T-129 was chosen over the Chinese Z-10 by none other than Pakistan and that should tell you something about the quality of the system.
As regards the engine being US, so what? As long as BD can buy the helicopter and Turkey can provide full overhaul and supplies of it's indigenous weapons for the attack chopper, that is all that matters in any realistic scenario. Anyway Turkey is very advanced in coming up with a replacement engine in next 3-5 years.