Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. (TAI;
Turkish: Türk Havacılık ve Uzay Sanayi A.Ş., TUSAŞ) is the center of technology in design, development, manufacturing, integration of aerospace systems, modernization and after sales support in
Turkey.
History
Turkish Aircraft and Engine Limited Company (Tayyare ve Motor Türk Anonim Şirketi, TOMTAŞ) in the early 20th century
On 15 August 1925, the Turkish Aircraft and Engine Limited Company (Tayyare ve Motor Türk Anonim Şirketi, TOMTAŞ) factory was founded in
Kayseri, Turkey.[2]
Projects
Model of reconnaissance and military satellite
Göktürk-2 during the
IDEF 2015
TAI's experience includes the licensed production of General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon jets, CASA/IPTN CN-235 light transport/maritime patrol/surveillance aircraft, SIAI-Marchetti SF.260 trainers, Cougar AS-532 search and rescue (SAR), combat search and rescue (CSAR) and utility helicopters as well as the design and development of Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), target drones and agricultural aircraft.
TAI's core business also includes modernization, modification and systems integration programs and after sales support of both fixed and rotary wing military and commercial aircraft that are in the inventory of Turkey and its allies.
Turkish Aerospace Industries' (TAI's)
Hurkus basic trainer aircraft has been granted air worthiness type certification, the company announced at the 2016 Farnborough International Airshow.
Design, development and production of
TAI Hürkuş (Turkish Primary and Basic Training Aircraft) with
EASA CS-23 certification.[14]
Design, development and production of
Anka unmanned aerial vehicle for the TuAF.[15]
Turkish Aerospace/TUSAS produced 46 F-16s for the Egyptian Air Force between 1993 and 1995 under the agreement signed between the Governments of
Turkey and the Arab Republic of Egypt.[16][17][18][19] A contract to produce 46 Block 40 F-16C/D's for the Egyptian Air Force was placed with TUSAS Aerospace Industries (TAI) of Turkey. 34 of them will be F-16C's, 12 will be F-16D's. This was carried out under the auspices of the Peace Vector IV program, and marked the first sale of a foreign-built Fighting Falcon to a third-party nation in the history of the F-16 program.[20]
TAI manufactures Section 18 fuselage panels for
Airbus 319/320/321 aircraft, wing tips and flight deck panels for
Boeing 737 aircraft,[21] rear doors and engine cowlings for
Eurocopter EC135 helicopters,
MD 902 fuselage for
MD Helicopters, horizontal stabilizers, tail rotor pylons and tail booms for
Sikorsky S-70A and
MH-60 helicopters, horizontal stabilizers for
Sikorsky S-76 helicopters and
AB139 fuselages for
Agusta.[22] Furthermore, TAI manufactures nose landing gear doors for the
Boeing 747, dorsal fin for
777 and parts/subassembly parts for
737/767/777. It also manufactures seven components of the
Eurocopter AS 532 helicopter.
TAI, which had a single program (the co-production of the F-16 Fighting Falcon) at its establishment phase, is working on over 50 military and commercial programs today. As a partner of the
Airbus Defence and Space, TAI has been participating in the design and development activities of the
Airbus A400M program with the leading European aerospace companies; namely Airbus (France, Germany, Spain and UK), EADS CASA (Spain) and FLABEL (Belgium) from the beginning of the project. TAI has accepted the production of
A350XWB's winglets with the new cooperation.
In May 2015, the
Turkish regional jet project was launched, which consisted of the indigenous production of two
regional aircraft in different sizes. The 32-seat TRJ-328 jet with a range up to 2,000 nmi (2,300 mi; 3,700 km) was planned to enter service in 2019. It was a
Fairchild Dornier 328JET-based, modernized aircraft with new cockpit and engines. The larger, 70-seat TRJ-628 jet would be ready in 2023.[23][24] The project has since been cancelled.
In June 2024, news media reported that TAI was responsible for introducing questionable
titanium into the supply chain for aircraft parts which ultimately were used to manufacture some
Boeing and
Airbus passenger planes built between 2019 and 2023.[25] The titanium sold by TAI included falsified authenticity documentation that originated from a metals supplier in China, calling into question whether the titanium was truly aviation-grade. However,
Spirit’s testing has confirmed that the titanium is the appropriate grade for airplane manufacturers.