Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 10
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
Turkey will sell T129 ATAK military helicopters to the Philippines, Trend reports referring to the Turkish media.
The reports noted that ten military helicopters will be sold in the first batch.
It is expected that the agreement on the sale of military helicopters will be signed by the end of December 2018.
Turkey had earlier signed a similar agreement with Pakistan.
The first prototype of the T129 ATAK helicopters, manufactured for the Turkish army, made its test flight in Italy, in the suburbs of Milan in 2009.
In January-November 2018, exports of the Turkish defense industry grew by 16.05 percent compared to the same period in 2017, reaching $1.782 billion.
In the first 11 months of 2018, products of the Turkish defense industry worth $150.5 million were exported to Oman, the SSM said.
During the reported period, products of the Turkish defense industry worth $72.3 million were exported to the Netherlands and $71.6 million to India, the SSM noted.
In the recent years, Turkey has invested about $35 billion in the defense industry.
From 2011, Turkey produces mobile outposts that have proved useful in fight against the militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and also the Canik TP9 handguns, unmanned ANKA aircraft and other military equipment to strengthen the domestic defense industry.
Turkey is also developing a domestic military laser system.
Earlier, the trials of the domestically-made long-range surface-to-surface missiles have been conducted in Turkey. The new rocket, named KAAN, was launched from a firing ground in the province of Sinop in the north of Turkey.
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