Thanks to the USA, Turkey's impetus to develop the domestic military usage solution for engines of all sorts has reached the tempest level!!!! Necessity is the mother of invention....
The USA didn't want to sell even two UAVs to fight against the PKK, now Turkey is producing one per week...
They put a quota on ammunition for choppers, fighters etc. while fighting PKK, now 100% of the ammunition used in fighting the scums are indigenous and virtually unlimited production!!! All the Haram money from MBS/MBZ to YPG/PKK etc. are now being drowned in the sewage as they're being eliminated at an exponential rate in all over the "Terror Corridor" stretching from the Iranian border to the Mediterranean!!! And, that region is joining Turkey to make it her first line of defense!!! Hodri Meydan...
Bottom-line: Anytime you hear "sanction", "embargo" etc. say, "Elhamdulillah, Allah-u Azimushshan's HELP is nearby"...
The reason for the establishment of foundation companies (Aselsan Havelsan etc.) and the Defense Industry Executive Committee, is the embargo conditions in the 1970s.
Most systems (Anka, Altay, Milgem, Atak, etc.), which are now being discussed as the main system and which have been decided to make domestic production in 2004, are due to the implicit embargo in the 2000s. Because of continuous delayed tenders were stopped by a single decision and domestic production was decided.
However, the story of the post-2015 period is different. After more than 20 years of infrastructure workings, the Turkish defense industry has been making strategic planning as a state policy to have a global impact. If you can find it, I wish you to review the contents of the "Turkish Defense Industry - Global Power" Panel held last week under the auspices of the Presidency.
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At the T129 acquisition point of Pakistan, there is no problem. A process where the entire financial plan, including loan agreements, runs smoothly. Moreover, Pakistan had chosen this system by testing and approving it. The second system, which lost the tender, as a project of almost 20 years, but it still needs to work on the system and try to test it again in Pakistan.
Engine problem is a temporary, if extreme conditions occur. The US blackmail to Pakistan on this issue will be a challenge for the US company due to the fact that the biggest customer of LHTEC engines is the T129b1 system. Is it easy ? As a Off-topic example, last news shows how Piaggio has come to end with 8 canceled orders. The fact that a foreign policy equation, which is not built correctly, could lose almost the entire Asian market for the US is another issue.
At the other corner, TS1400, which IP rights belonging to TEI, have completed the core tests in 2017 and first ignition was carried out in 2018. The military certification process of the engine will be completed in 2021, while the maximum range for civil certificates, including EASA is 2025. So the LHTEC engine is an intermediate solution.
Turkey will work for local solutions in all circumstances. However, due to the urgent need of Pakistan, there may be procurement from third countries. As a result, Turkey will remain bound to the contract and will fulfill their obligations.
Briefly, T129 is the intermediate phase for us. And to be honest, I didn't expect to have such a big impact on the foreign markets. The first concrete goal for us will be T129B2, but our ultimate goal is to implement the totally original ATAK-2 project through the T129 project. Thus, some technology transfer and design rights provided by Italy will be left behind.