On April 22, 2023, a prototype of the Turkish multipurpose helicopter T625 Gökbey, equipped for the first time with two Turkish-designed TS1400 turboshaft engines, made its first flight at the airfield of the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) aviation association in Ankara. The TS1400 engine in the 1400 hp power class was developed by the engine-building division of TAI - TAI Engine Industries (TEI).
The prototype of the Turkish multi-purpose helicopter TAI T625 Gökbey, for the first time equipped with two turboshaft engines of the Turkish development TEI TS1400, in the first flight. Ankara, 22.04.2023 (c) SavunmaSanayiST.comThe multi-purpose helicopter T625 Gökbey has been developed under the head role of TAI since 2010 with government funding and under contracts with the Ministry of Defense of Turkey (SSB) within the framework of the Turkish Light Utility Helicopter program (TLUH, also the project was previously known as Özgün - "original").
The helicopter is designed for commercial and military applications. Initially, it was declared as a "five-ton class", but eventually received the T625 index, which officially stands for "six-ton - twin-engine - five-bladed". In the civilian version, the T625 helicopter must have a capacity of up to 12 passengers plus two crew members. Although the T625 is claimed to be a "100 percent independent development of TAI," however, the appearance of the helicopter is close to the machines of the Italian company Leonardo Helicopter (formerly AgustaWestland), which suggests the latter's participation in R&D, especially in light of the cooperation of the parties on the production of the T129 ATTACK combat helicopter (AW129) in Turkey.
The first prototype of the T625 helicopter built by TAI (registration number TC-HLP), made in a commercial multipurpose design, was publicly demonstrated for the first time in May 2017 at the IDEF-2017 international exhibition held in Istanbul and made its first flight in hover mode in Ankara on September 6, 2018, the first full-profile flight was made at the beginning of 2019. The second fully completed prototype T625 (P1, registration number TS-HLI) made its first flight on June 29, 2019. The third prototype P2 (registration number TC-HLV) made its first flight on June 27, 2021. Another prototype (registration on board is closed) made its first flight now with TS1400 engines.
The experimental and first production samples of the T625 helicopter are equipped with two American LHTEC (Rolls-Royce/Honeywell) CTS800-4AT turboshaft engines with a take-off capacity of 1,373 hp, which in the CTS800-4A version are also used on the T129 ATAK helicopter. Under a 2015 contract, TAI ordered 10 CTS800-4AT engines from LHTEC to equip the T625 prototypes. Since 2017, under an eight-year contract with SSB, TEI has been creating its own turboshaft engine in the 1400 hp power class to replace the damaged CTS800 series engines on T625 helicopters and in the future on T129. The TS1400 engine prototype was first presented publicly on December 11, 2020, and flight tests of engines on the prototype T625 helicopter have now begun. A turboprop version of the TS1400 turboshaft engine is also being created, proposed for use on the TAI HURKUS-B/C combat training aircraft. Serial production of the TS1400 is expected from 2025-2026.
The first three serial T625 helicopters were ordered by the Turkish gendarmerie, the first of them (tail number J-6001) was pumped out by TAI in December 2022 and is scheduled for delivery in 2023 (initially it was announced that their deliveries would begin in 2022).
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