Objective: Meeting the Turkish Air Force’s basic pilot training requirement beyond 2008.

Scope: Procurement of a new generation basic trainer aircraft to replace the existing already-aged T-37 aircraft in Turkish Air Force inventory.

Project Model: Direct Procurement

Prime Contractor: KAI (Republic of Korea)

Contract Date: 3 August 2007

Status:   Defence Industry Executive Committee decision made on 19 January 2005 initiated the procurement effort via an international competition. A Request for Information (RFI) was issued to the related companies and the responses have been evaluated. Then, a Request for Proposal (RFP) has been issued on 6 January 2006 to 3 potential bidders. Embraer (Brasil) and KAI (Republic of Korea) submitted proposals on 14 July 2006, joining the competition.

SSM / TUAF Proposal Evaluation Team has completed the evaluation process in June 2007 and submitted the results to the Defence Industry Executive Committee.  On 20 June 2007, the Defence Industry Executive Committee selected KAI (Republic of Korea) for the procurement of 40 (+15 options) KT-1 aircraft. SSM has completed the contract negotiations with KAI Team and the TEU Contract has been signed on 3 August 2007 at SSM.

The deliveries will commence by early 2010 and will be concluded by 2012. The TEU aircraft will be manufactured, assembled and delivered at TAI facilities in Ankara, and will have a number of ASELSAN-made equipment and a glass-cockpit. A 20% industrial participation is envisioned in the Program.

Ground based Training System (GBTS) will be developed by a HAVELSAN-led Turkish consortium.