Earlier, Turkey became one of the largest manufacturers of combat drones, but now its aircraft industry has achieved success. Yesterday, November 19, the portal defensenews.com He reported that Turkish President Recep Erdogan announced the first export sale of Hurkus light attack aircraft. The buyer was the African country of Niger.
Temel Kotil, the head of TAI, first mentioned the planned export of Hurkus during a TV interview on CNN Turk on November 11, but did not name the customer country. According to Kotil, the company has already signed an export contract, the delivery of the first aircraft is scheduled for the next six months. According to unofficial data, the contract includes 12 Hurkus-C units. In addition to aircraft, Niger buys TB2 drones, armored personnel carriers and patrol ships of Turkish production.
Hurkus-C light attack aircraft
Image source: twitter.com/tcsavunma
Hurkus-C (HÜRKUŞ-C) is the first combat aircraft of the Hurkus family. Earlier, modifications of Hurkus-A (initial pilot training aircraft) and Hurkus-B (advanced pilot training aircraft) were created. In addition, it is planned to create a version of the Hurkus-CG - a combat aircraft for the Coast Guard service. The development of the aircraft has been underway since 2006, the first flight of its training version took place in August 2013. Hurkus is equipped with a PT6A-68T turboprop engine with a capacity of 1600 hp, capable of speeds up to 574 km/ h and climbing to a height of more than 10 km.
