@Oscar
The Airbus H215M Super Puma and Denel Aviation Rooivalk share the same engine, main rotor, tail rotor and gearbox (
link). Moreover, the Airbus H215M is a very mature, widely adopted and fairly affordable transport helicopter, boasting a unit cost of $15-20 million per aircraft.
Today, Airbus isn't interested in pushing the Tiger (as Eurocopter was back a decade ago) and is willing to support the Rooivalk program (whereas Eurocopter withheld support in favour of pushing the Tiger). Airbus is currently helping Denel overhaul the SANDF's Rooivalk and is in talks to support the Rooivalk Mk2.
The Rooivalk Mk2 will retain the same airframe, engine and other critical parts of the Rooivalk (
link), but will have new avionics and sensors. Denel says it needs 60+ units to make the Rooivalk Mk2 program feasible (
link), which is a low number, but explainable since (1) they're re-using the airframe and engines and (2) actually wrote down the Rooivalk's earlier R&D costs when they first shuttered the program. The Mk2's scale is likely to offset the cost of upgrading the helicopter and reactivating its production line.
Theoretically, do you think it is possible for Pakistan to procure both - the H215M and Rooivalk Mk2? With the Rooivalk Mk2, Denel is offering technology transfer and industrial partnerships:
“Denel Aviation is interested in seeking partners and clients in the development of a new generation Rooivalk…In this process, significant opportunities exist for technology transfer as well as production and MRO participation. In order to exploit the intellectual property vested in Rooivalk at an economically feasible level a broad client base would be required,” Denel said.
“Through a joint venture programme of industrial participation and transfer of intellectual property, an indigenous attack helicopter production, support and upgrade/modification capability can be established.”
With the ToT element potentially impacting both the Rooivalk and H215M, would there be enough scale to sustain it? The H215M could serve as a backbone transport helicopter in the Army, and its well-equipped variants, such as the Caracal, can be put to use by the Navy. I don't think Pakistan would need to aim for total ToT in either area, but securing engine MRO for the Safran Makila, main rotor, tail rotor and *common* dynamic parts manufacturing could be beneficial. This would essentially constitute for most wear-and-tear parts, and localizing the support chain for those should help control long-term costs and guarantee operability.
Aerostructures manufacturing for parts of the airframe could help, but wouldn't be as pivotal as the dynamic parts and engine MRO. Moreover, the H215 airframe is already manufactured in Romania, which is much cheaper to source from than France or Germany anyways. A chunk of the Rooivalk's airframe work could be had via ToT, but the real value of that would come from third-party exports.
Going this route would dampen the T-129 and Z-10 fronts. However, Turkey is now developing its own turboshaft engine for the T-129, one might as well wait for that I think. In general though, the Rooivalk Mk2 is a heavier and bigger beast, one capable of carrying 16 ATGMs - and possibly even a top-mounted millimeter wave radar - like the Apache and Mi-28NE. It shares the rugged and durable design attributes of the Super Puma, and will retain the low operational costs of that platform (by virtue of the same engine and dynamic parts).
Yes, the T-129 is an excellent platform for hot-and-high performance and operations in high-altitude conditions, but the Rooivalk/Super Puma have advantage in terms of parts availability, scale and affordability. I can see the value of the T-129 in vastly sharpening our CAS coverage in the Northern Areas, but when it comes to backing armour along the East in the plains and deserts, it's tough to discount the Rooivalk Mk2.
Yes, it was a total non-factor a few months ago, but we have several favourable factors now: (1) we have renewed formal defence relations with South Africa, so government approvement on that end shouldn't be as much of an issue. (2) Denel's overt willingness to extend ToT and enable the end-user to customize the platform. (3) The Airbus Super Puma making the core of the Rooivalk, which means the Rooivalk benefits from the low cost of acquisition and maintenance of the Super Puma (albeit in terms of the engine and rotors).
One avenue could be to fit the Rooivalk with the avionics, weapons and - if and when available - the millimeter wave radar of the T-129. Yes, Turkey has an incentive to sell the T-129, but as we're seeing with the Altay, they are willing to just sell the subsystems (e.g. electronics, armour, etc) for Pakistan's existing programs (e.g. al-Khalid).