The first delivery of the T625 GÖKBEY utility helicopter developed by TAI was made to the General Directorate of Security.
Turkey's national general purpose helicopter T625 GÖKBEY entered the inventory of the General Directorate of Security. The delivery of the first helicopter was held at a ceremony held at TAI's Kahramankazan campus.
Minister of Internal Affairs Mustafa Çiftçi, President of the Presidency of Defense Industries Haluk Görgün, General Director of Police Ali Fidan and TAI General Manager Mehmet Demiroğlu attended the ceremony.
18 GÖKBEYs come to the police station
Minister of Internal Affairs Mustafa Çiftçi announced that a total of 18 T625 GÖKBEYs will be purchased for the Police Department. While the first helicopter is ready for delivery, the remaining platforms are expected to be included in the inventory within the scope of the program.
Çiftçi stated that GÖKBEY will increase the operational capacity of the Police Department and pointed out that the helicopter can be used in different missions such as anti-terrorism, public order, reconnaissance-surveillance, disaster and emergency situations.
The current fleet of the General Directorate of Security Aviation Department includes 35 helicopters, 5 aircraft, 19 tactical UAVs and 1 operative UAV. With the new GÖKBEYs, it is aimed to further strengthen this fleet with national platforms.
Pilot and technician training continues
Work continues to integrate GÖKBEY into the Police, not only as a platform but also for the personnel who will use it.
In this context, 6 Police pilots and 4 helicopter technicians continue their GÖKBEY orientation training within TAI. Thus, it is aimed to prepare the necessary human resources so that the helicopters can be used operationally after their delivery.
National helicopter in the 6 ton class
T625 GÖKBEY stands out as a twin-engine general purpose helicopter in the 6-ton class that was originally developed by Turkey.
According to the information provided by TAI, approximately 3 thousand hours of flight tests were carried out during the development process of GÖKBEY. Helicopter; It was designed with modern avionics architecture, advanced flight control systems and a structure that can be adapted to different mission needs.
The first flight of the platform was carried out on September 6, 2018. Following the development process, it is planned to produce configurations of GÖKBEY for the needs of different public institutions.
More than 200 local companies take part
Defense Industry President Haluk Görgün announced that more than 200 domestic companies worked in GÖKBEY and other national helicopter projects.
Görgün stated that Turkey's ability to meet its helicopter needs with domestic resources has prevented direct imports of more than 8 billion dollars to date, and when maintenance and sustainment costs are taken into account, the total economic contribution has exceeded 35 billion dollars.
According to the data of the Presidency of Defense Industries, 39 T70, 8 GÖKBEY and 80 ATAK have been delivered to different users within the scope of Turkey's helicopter programs so far. Additionally, 12 ATAK helicopters were exported to friendly and allied countries.
GÖKBEY's users are increasing
The General Directorate of Security has joined the public institutions using GÖKBEY. With the development of configurations of the helicopter for different mission needs, it is aimed for different civilian users, especially the Ministry of Health, to use GÖKBEY in the future.
TAI General Manager Mehmet Demiroğlu emphasized that GÖKBEY is a national helicopter that can be said to be "all ours" and stated that it is aimed to continue deliveries in higher quantities in the coming period.
With the first delivery to the police inventory, GÖKBEY entered the operational use of security forces as one of the national helicopters developed by the Turkish defense and aviation industry.
