Turkish Aerospace Industries - Turkish Aerospace Industries

Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc. (TAI) (Turkish: Türk Havacılık ve Uzay Sanayi A.Ş., TUSAŞ) is the center of technology in design, development, manufacturing, integration of aerospace systems, modernization and after sales support in Turkey.

Located in Ankara, the TAI production plant covers an area of 5 million square meters with an industrial facility of 150,000 square meters under its roof. The company has a modern aircraft facility furnished with high technology machinery and equipment that provide extensive manufacturing capabilities ranging from parts manufacturing to aircraft assembly, flight tests and delivery.

As of 2010, Turkish Aerospace Industries employs over 1500 engineers, of whom approximately 850 are research and development engineers working in military research projects.

Projects

TAI’s experience includes the licensed production of General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon jets, CASA/IPTN CN-235 light transport/maritime patrol/surveillance aircraft, SIAI-Marchetti SF.260 trainers, Cougar AS-532 search and rescue (SAR), combat search and rescue (CSAR) and utility helicopters as well as the design and development of Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), target drones and agricultural aircraft.

TAI’s core business also includes modernization, modification and systems integration programs and after sales support of both fixed and rotary wing military and commercial aircraft that are in the inventory of Turkey and its allies.

Turkish Aerospace Industries' (TAI's) Hurkus basic trainer aircraft has been granted air worthiness type certification, the company announced at the 2016 Farnborough International Airshow.

Major programs

• Electronic warfare retrofit and structural modifications on Turkish Air Force (TuAF) F-16s.
• MLU, Falcon-Up and Falcon Star Modifications on the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) F-16s,
• Modifications of 41 F-16A/B Block 15 aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force to F-16AM/BM Block 15 MLU standard.
• Modification of the S-2E Tracker Maritime Patrol Aircraft into Fire Fighting Aircraft
• CN-235 and Black Hawk modifications for the Turkish Special Forces
• Modification of CN-235 platforms for MPA/MSA missions for the Turkish Navy and Coast Guard
• Modification and modernization of Eurocopter AS 532,
• Glass Cockpit Retrofit of S-70 helicopters,
• Conversion of B737-700 aircraft AEW&C aircraft,
• Avionics modernization of C-130 aircraft for the Turkish Air Force (TuAF),
• Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) and Production of the center fuselage of Joint Strike Fighter F-35 aircraft,
• Participating in the design and development of the A400M military transport and tanker aircraft,
• Avionics modernization of T-38 aircraft for the TuAF,
• Design, development and production of the attack helicopter T-129 for the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF).
• Design, development and production of TAI HürkuÅŸ (Turkish Primary and Basic Training Aircraft) with EASA CS-23 certification.
• Design, development and production of Anka unmanned aerial vehicle for the TuAF.

TAI is engaged in manufacturing aerostructures for fixed and rotary wing, military and commercial aircraft for worldwide customers. TAI is in various partnership arrangements with AgustaWestland, Airbus Group, Alenia Aermacchi, Boeing, IAI, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, MD Helicopters, Sikorsky and numerous other companies in aerospace sector.

TAI manufactures Section 18 fuselage panels for Airbus 319/320/321 aircraft, wing tips and flight deck panels for Boeing 737 aircraft, rear doors and engine cowlings for Eurocopter EC135 helicopters, MD 902 fuselage for MD Helicopters, horizontal stabilizers, tail rotor pylons and tail booms for Sikorsky S-70A and MH-60 helicopters, horizontal stabilizers for Sikorsky S-76 helicopters and AB139 fuselages for Agusta. Furthermore, TAI manufactures nose landing gear doors for the Boeing 747, dorsal fin for 777 and parts/subassembly parts for 737/767/777. It also manufactures seven components of the Eurocopter AS 532 helicopter.

TAI, which had a single program (the co-production of the F-16 Fighting Falcon) at its establishment phase, is working on over 50 military and commercial programs today. As a partner of the Airbus Defence and Space, TAI has been participating in the design and development activities of the Airbus A400M program with the leading European aerospace companies; namely Airbus (France, Germany, Spain and UK), EADS CASA (Spain) and FLABEL (Belgium) from the beginning of the project. TAI has accepted the production of A350XWB's winglets with the new cooperation.

In May 2015, the Turkish regional jet project was launched, which consists of the indigenous production of two regional aircraft in different size. The 32-seat TRJ-328 jet with a range up to 2,000 nmi (2,300 mi; 3,700 km) will enter service in 2019. It is a Fairchild Dornier 328JET-based, modernized aircraft with new cockpit and engines. The larger, 70-seat TRJ-628 jet will be ready in 2023. Other Turkish companies as main contractors of the project are ASELSAN, TEI, HAVELSAN, Turkish Technic, Alp Aviation and Kale Aviation.

Products

Unmanned aerial vehicles

• TAI Anka-A (TIHA-A) (2013), MALE ISTAR UAV
• TAI Anka-B (TIHA-B) (2013), MALE UCAV
• TAI BaykuÅŸ (2003), tactical surveillance drone
• TAI Gözcü (2007), short-range tactical ISTAR drone
• TAI Keklik (2001), target drone for tracking and non-firing exercise
• TAI Martı (2003), surveillance drone
• TAI Öncü (2009), experimental small scale drone
• TAI Pelikan (IHA-X2), tactical ISTAR drone
• TAI Åžahit (IHA-X1), prototype tactical drone
• TAI ÅžimÅŸek, high-speed target drone
• TAI Sivrisinek VTOL, reconnaissance and surveillance VTOL UCAV
• TAI Turna (2001), target drone for tracking and live firing

Aircraft

• TAI HürkuÅŸ, two-seat, single engine, turboprop aircraft for training and ground attack,
• TFX (Turkey)

Helicopters

• TAI/AgustaWestland T-129
• T-70, Turkish variants of Sikorsky S-70i
• T-625

Satellites

• Göktürk-1, earth observation satellite
• Göktürk-2 (launched 2012), earth observation satellite
• Göktürk-3 satellite
• Türksat 6A, communications satellite

TAI operates Turkish Satellite Assembly, Integration and Test Center.

References

External links

• Official website