ANKARA - Undersecretariat of Defense Industry (SSM) has received bids for 52 general-purpose search and rescue helicopters tender, which is among its priority procurement projects.
Four leading foreign defense industry companies have submitted their bids for the Turkish Armed Forces helicopter project (H-27).
These four companies are "Augusta Westland", "Eurocopter", "NHI" and "Sikorsky".
SSM has started to evaluate the bids and is expected to make its final decision by the end of this year.
The project is planned to be financed by SSM funds.
The list of helicopters to be acquired by the various departments of the Turkish Armed Forces is as follows:
Land Forces Command: 20 general-purpose helicopters,
Air Forces Command: 6 search and rescue helicopters,
Naval Forces Command: 6 general-purpose helicopters,
Forestry Directorate General: 20 fire-fighting helicopters.