South Africa’s Rooivalk helicopter has made it to the shortlist in Turkey’s $2-billion ATAK programme for 91 helicopters, senior officials at Denel said on Saturday.
According to information released in Ankara on Friday, Denel will be called for further negotiations with the Turkish military procurement authorities.
The only other competitor shortlisted was the Mangusta 129 International helicopter from Italian firm Agusta.
The French Eurocopter Tiger and Russian Kamov KA50-2 helicopters were eliminated.
“We are extremely pleased that South Africa’s Rooivalk reached this position,” said Denel’s CEO Shaun Liebenberg.
“Clearly we still have a lot of work to do, but we’ve all along been confident that the Rooivalk helicopter was best suited to meet the requirements of Turkey’s ATAK programme and we believe both Turkey and South Africa stand to benefit significantly from this programme.”
The Turkish programme was one of the largest defence bids in which Denel — and the South African defence-related industry — had ever participated, Denel said. — Sapa