TSAMTO, August 4. Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), during the Farnborough-2022 air Show, confirmed the contract for the supply of an unnamed amount of Hurkus UBS to Chad.
As reported by Scramble.nl, information about the contract was confirmed by TAI CEO Temel Kotil in an interview with CNN Turk. Thus, Chad officially became the second African country after Niger, which acquired the Hurkus UBS (approx.TSAMTO: according to unconfirmed information, the version of the Hurkus-C UBS was also acquired by Libya).
According to T. Kotil, the aircraft supplied to the Chadian Air Force will be manufactured in a combat training version / light attack aircraft (approx. TSAMTO: obviously, the Hurkus-C version). He did not provide other details of the transaction.
T. Kotil also revealed some details regarding the agreements with Niger.
In particular, he said that the first group of Nigerian pilots is currently being trained, and the first of the 12 ordered UBS will be delivered by the end of 2022. In the future, it is planned to implement an option to supply additional Hurkus-C to Niger. Chad also ordered armored personnel carriers from the Turkish company Nurol Makina.
Recall that in November 2021, after a telephone conversation with the head of Niger, Mohammed Bazum, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the sale of Turkish-made military equipment to Niger, including Hurkus light attack aircraft, Bayraktar TB2 UAVs (delivered in May) and armored vehicles of an unspecified type. Roketsan company will provide the supply of missile weapons for UBS and UAVs.
As TSAMTO has already reported, the development of the Hurkus aircraft line began in March 2006, when the Turkish Defense Industry Secretariat (SSM) signed a corresponding contract with TAI.
The prototype of the basic version of the Hurkus-A TCB made its first flight on August 29, 2013. It is currently being produced for the Turkish Armed Forces.
On December 26, 2013, SSM signed a contract for the serial production of two more versions of the Hurkus TCB. The agreement provided for the production of 15 Hurkus-B units equipped with advanced military avionics of the national company Aselsan. The contract contained an option to supply 40 additional TCB. The agreement also included the development of a conceptual design of an armed version of the Hurkus-C, designed for reconnaissance and aviation support.
Flight tests of the first Hurkus-B began in January 2018. The implementation of the Hurkus-C program began on November 28, 2016, and the prototype was demonstrated in February 2017 with UMTAS anti-tank guided missiles and Roketsan CIRIT laser-guided missiles. On April 7, 2017, the Hurkus-C prototype performed the first launch of the L-UMTAS ATGM at a ground target.
Equipped with seven suspension points, the Hurkus-C with a payload capacity of 1500 kg can use various ammunition of national production, including UMTAS ATGM, 70 mm CIRIT laser-guided missiles, KGK-SIHA-82 gliding bombs and free-falling bombs equipped with Teber laser INS/GPS guidance kits. In addition, the aircraft can carry free-falling bombs, 12.7-mm and 20-mm container weapons systems.
