TAI T129 ATAK Specs, Engine, Cockpit, and Price

TAI T129 ATAK Specs, Engine, Cockpit, and Price – TAI T129 ATAK is a twin-engine multi-role attack helicopter produced jointly by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) and AgustaWestland in Italy. This helicopter is designed to meet the requirements of the Turkish Armed Forces. The  T129 ATAK prototype made its first flight on September 28, 2009 at the AgustaWestland facility in Vergiate, Italy. At present the helicopter has been operated by the Turkish Armed Forces in two different configurations namely TUC-1 and TUC-2.

The T129 ATAK helicopter can be operated in a variety of missions including battles, armed reconnaissance, armed escort, assault, fire support, precision attacks, security and suppression of enemy air defenses. This helicopter can operate in day and night operations in adverse weather conditions.

TAI T129 ATAK Specs

TAI T129 ATAK was built based on the Mangusta AW129 platform. The helicopter propulsion system includes a five-blade main rotor of 11.9 m in diameter and a two-blade tail rotor. The helicopter is equipped with a wheel landing gear, laser pointer, laser point tracker, color television camera, dual target tracking and emergency location transmitter - transmitter.

TAI T129 ATAK Engine and Performance

The T129 ATAK helicopter is powered by two LHTEC T800-4A turboshaft engines. Each machine can produce an output power of 1,014 kW. The engine is equipped with a full authority digital engine control system (FADEC), thereby reducing pilot workload by carrying out autopilot operations. The machine has a length of 0.85 m, a diameter of 0.56 m, and a weight of 154 kg.

TAI T129 ATAK can fly with a maximum cruise speed of 269 km / h and can ride at a speed of 14 m / s. The T129 helicopter has a normal range of 561 km, a ferry range of 1,000 km and a maximum endurance of 3 hours. The helicopter service ceiling is 6,096 m.

TAI T129 ATAK Cockpit and Avionics

The TAI T129 ATAK cockpit can accommodate two crew members in a tandem configuration. The all-digital cockpit is equipped with two multifunctional multi-color screens (MFD), a keyboard display unit, and a helmet-mounted night-vision (HMDS) display system.

In addition, the cockpit is also equipped with a flight data recorder (FDR), mission planning ground station (MPGS), weapons control unit (WCU), integrated standby instrument system, and air vehicle monitoring system (AVMS) also installed on the aircraft.

TAI T129's advanced avionics suite includes a dual avionics central control computer (ACCC), automatic flight control system (AFCS), air data computer (ADC), inertial navigation system (INS), and global positioning system (GPS) and digital moving maps (AFC) DMP). It is also equipped with a voice encryption system, a data and image transmission system (DITS), and a DAS suite with passive and active actions.

TAI T129 ATAK Weapons

TAI T129 ATAK has four hard-points which can hold 1,200 kg (300 kg each) of the payload. The helicopter can be armed with a Gatling 20 mm three-barrel type cannon that can fire 500 rounds. It also has a 12.7 mm pistol pod, anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) and air-to-air missiles (AAM), 70 mm rockets and guided rockets.

TAI T129 TUC-1 is equipped with original electronic warfare and countermeasures, Aselsan Asel FLIR-300, and foreign missiles. Meanwhile, the TAI T129 TUC-2 is also equipped with a UMTAS Rocket rocket, and a Cirit Laser Rocket that guides the 2.75 in rocket.

The T129 ATAK helicopter can survive on the battlefield through the integration of survivability equipment, which includes countermeasures, missile warning systems, laser warning systems, radio frequency jammers, radar warning receivers (RWR), infrared countermeasures, and central processing system (SCPS suites) ).

TAI T129 ATAK Price and Orders

The price of the TAI T129 ATAK attack helicopter is around US $ 16 million. At present, TAI has built 58 T129 helicopters. The Turkish Armed Forces received the first T129 ATAK in May 2014. TAI concluded the delivery of the first fleet of nine helicopters in July 2015.