Pakistan was once again left without attack helicopters. Yesterday, January 7, the portal scramble.nl He reported that the Ministry of Defense of Pakistan officially terminated the contract for the purchase of 30 T129 combat vehicles from Turkey.
The official decision indicates that Pakistan no longer believes that Turkey can solve the problem with the engine, since the LHTEC T800 turboshaft engine has not received permission from the US government to export to Turkey (LHTEC stands for Light Helicopter Turbine Engine Company - a joint venture of British Rolls-Royce and American Honeywell). Turkey's disagreements with its NATO allies have significantly complicated the life of the Turkish military-industrial complex. Thus, the unwillingness of the United States to grant Turkey licenses to export technologies initially called into question a contract with Pakistan worth $ 1.5 billion, and now the Turkish military-industrial complex has officially lost a large order.
Helicopter T129
Image source: scramble.nl
Earlier, Pakistan was unable to receive attack helicopters from the United States. Under the contracts of 2015 and 2016, Pakistan expected to arm itself with 12 AH-1Z Viper helicopters by 2018, but the machines were never delivered. The official reason is called "technical difficulties concerning the contract", the unofficial reason is the rapprochement of Pakistan and China.
As the portal writes scramble.nl, the only option for Pakistan to arm itself with attack helicopters remains the purchase of an upgraded export version of the Chinese CAIC Z-10 called Z-10ME.
