ANKARA, Turkey — A top Turkish official hasconfirmed that the country wouldwill go ahead with a planned purchase of 15 KT-1T basic trainer aircraft from South Korea.
Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz said that the government decided to buy a follow-on order of 15 KT-1Ts as a stop-gap solution to meet its trainer aircraft needs.
He said that a Turkish program for the design, development and production of an indigenous basic trainer aircraft, the Hurkus, would progress as planned.
"We have concluded that we need the KT-1Ts until Hurkus' development phase has been completed," Yilmaz said.
The first Hurkus is expected to be delivered to the Turkish military by 2018. Meanwhile, Turkey plans to inaugurate this year a multinational military flight training center. Both trainer aircraft will be used at the planned center after 2018. But KT-1Ts are expected to arrive earlier.
Turkey has signed an agreement with the Tusas Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) for an initial batch of 10 Hurkus aircraft.
But Ankara also has decided to go for an approximately $150 million deal with the Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) for 15 KT-1Ts. In 2007, Turkey and KAI signed a contract for the sale of an initial batch of 40 KT-1s, with an option for 15 more.
The industry widely views the Turkish move to buy new KT-1s as a sign of mistrust in TAI's delivery schedule, planned for 2018.
Burak Ege Bekdil was the Turkey correspondent for Defense News.
