What Happened to Türkiye’s T-70 Black Hawk Programme?

Türkiye’s Black Hawk programme was never cancelled — it ran out of export licences. The Turkish Utility Helicopter Programme was meant to build 109 T-70s, a licence-built version of Sikorsky’s S-70i, for six Turkish government users. Lockheed Martin partially stopped work in October 2024, citing force majeure after US sanctions made it unable to get the authorisations it needed. Production halted at 38 completed airframes. In July 2026 Turkish Aerospace said it had agreed a further 39 kits with Sikorsky, obtained the export licence, and expected to restart manufacturing within about 18 months — after rewriting who the contractual end user is.

That last detail is the part worth understanding, because it applies well beyond helicopters. The sanctions that stopped the line were never aimed at the Turkish Air Force or the Gendarmerie. They were aimed at the agency that signs Türkiye’s defence contracts. This page explains how the programme got to 38 aircraft, what exactly broke, how it was unblocked, and what it means for anyone assessing a Turkish platform that contains American content.

What the T-70 actually is

The T-70 is not a Turkish design. It is the Sikorsky S-70i — the current export Black Hawk — assembled in Ankara by Turkish Aerospace under licence, with Turkish content substituted into the engine, the cockpit and much of the dynamic system. Turkish Aerospace builds the airframe structures, the composite main rotor blades and the final assembly. Alp Aviation, a Sikorsky joint venture, makes transmission components, flight controls and landing gear. ASELSAN developed the Integrated Modular Avionics System cockpit jointly with Sikorsky. TEI builds the engines in Eskişehir.

Turkish Aerospace gives the aircraft a maximum take-off weight of 9,980 kg, two crew and 12 passengers, a maximum cruise speed of 296 km/h and a service ceiling of 6,096 m. Those are S-70i numbers, because it is an S-70i. Readers who want the full technical lineage of the platform itself will find Envanter Medya’s Turkish-language technical profile of the UH-60 Black Hawk family a more detailed treatment of the variants and their specifications than is useful here.

What makes the T-70 interesting is not the airframe. It is the industrial arrangement underneath it, and the fact that the arrangement failed.

How big the programme was supposed to be

The Defence Industry Executive Committee approved the requirement on 5 December 2007 — six users, one common configuration, 109 helicopters. That is unusual in itself: the Land Forces, the Air Force, Special Forces Command, the Gendarmerie, the National Police and the Directorate General of Forestry were consolidated into a single procurement, 89 utility aircraft plus 20 configured for firefighting.

Sikorsky was selected, and the contractual agreements were activated in June 2016. Lockheed Martin put the value at approximately US$3.5 billion for the 109 aircraft, with options that could in principle have extended to 600 T70 and S-70i helicopters combined. The engine agreement between Turkish Aerospace and TEI had already been signed in Ankara on 21 February 2014, covering 236 T700-TEI-701D turboshafts — 218 for the aircraft, a minimum of 18 spares.

The 600-aircraft figure has been repeated for a decade as though it were an order. It was not. It was an option ceiling attached to a joint marketing arrangement for Sikorsky’s own S-70i sales in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. Nothing beyond the 109 was ever contracted.

The engine line ran ahead of the airframe line

Here is a detail that has not been assembled in English anywhere, and it changes how the programme’s failure should be read.

TEI’s own project page records that the first helicopter engines ever produced domestically in Türkiye were built at its Eskişehir plant in 2018, and that 58 engines had been completed by the end of 2021. Fifty-eight engines is enough for roughly 29 twin-engined aircraft plus spares. By July 2026 — more than four years later — Turkish Aerospace had completed 38 airframes.

The Turkish-built component was not the constraint. TEI manufactures the T700 under General Electric Aviation licence, including hot-section parts such as the combustor, and kept producing. What ran out was the American side of the arrangement: the S-70i kits shipped from the United States, and the licences and technical assistance agreements that allow an American manufacturer to keep supplying them.

This matters for a procurement reader because it separates two risks that are usually treated as one. Turkish industrial capacity and Turkish export-control exposure are different variables. On the T-70, the first was adequate and the second was not.

What actually stopped the line

In December 2020 the United States designated Türkiye’s Presidency of Defence Industries, the SSB, under Section 231 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, in response to Türkiye’s purchase of the Russian S-400 system. The SSB is not an operator. It is the agency that writes, signs and manages Türkiye’s defence contracts — including the T-70 contract.

The practical consequence took nearly four years to work through. Lockheed Martin disclosed in its 2024 annual report that the sanctions had impaired its ability to perform under the TUHP contracts. It issued a force majeure notice and partially stopped work as of 5 October 2024, and recorded a US$95 million loss on the programme.

Reporting from Ankara in September 2025, Defense News put deliveries at 31 aircraft across the armed forces and security agencies, and reported that production would cease after 39 — a programme that had been approved for 109 and discussed at up to 600 finishing at roughly a third of its contracted size. The same reporting attributed the collapse to two causes, not one: the sanctions, and a genuine shift in requirement, as armed UAVs reduced the demand for helicopter-borne troop movement that had justified the original fleet size in 2007.

Both explanations are true and they point in opposite directions for a buyer. One is a political risk that can be lifted. The other is a doctrinal change that will not reverse. We cover the general mechanism in more detail in our explainer on how US export rules decide what Türkiye can build and sell.

How it was restarted: the end user changed

At the Farnborough International Airshow in July 2026, Turkish Aerospace President and CEO Mehmet Demiroğlu said the programme was back in execution. An agreement had been reached with Sikorsky at the beginning of 2026 for an additional batch of 39 helicopters, and the required export authorisation had been obtained.

Asked how, Demiroğlu gave the mechanism directly. CAATSA, he said, did not apply to every Turkish institution involved in the programme: the Ministry of National Defence, the Turkish Air Force, the Land Forces and the Gendarmerie General Command were not themselves designated. Turkish Aerospace then introduced contractual changes, worked out with Sikorsky, the US government and the Turkish government, that allowed the programme to resume. “We found a way, and now it is back in execution,” he said.

Read carefully, that is a description of contracting around a sanctioned procurement agency by putting the operating services in its place on the paperwork. It is the first publicly explained instance of a major US-content Turkish programme being unblocked that way, and it is the single most transferable fact on this page. It also has an obvious limit: it works where the end user is an undesignated service, and it does nothing for a programme where the SSB itself must hold the contract.

Demiroğlu also said Turkish Aerospace holds the authorisation to complete the remaining 32 aircraft of the original 109 if Türkiye decides to order them, though the company is focused on the batch of 39. FlightGlobal reported the resumption on 30 July 2026 under the heading of US sanctions relief; Demiroğlu’s own framing at Farnborough was narrower, and the narrower framing is the accurate one. Nothing in what he described indicates that the CAATSA designation on the SSB has been lifted.

The numbers, and why open sources disagree

Published figures for this programme conflict because they measure different things. “Completed” means an airframe finished on the line. “Delivered” means an aircraft handed to a user and accepted. “Inducted” means a ceremony at a specific command. Sources mix all three, and Turkish Aerospace’s own website adds a further complication by stating both 109 and 190 in different places on the same product page; 109 is the contracted figure and the one corroborated by Lockheed Martin, TEI and the SSB.

What comes next for Turkish helicopters

The restart does not make the T-70 Türkiye’s helicopter future, and Turkish Aerospace does not claim it does. Asked at Farnborough whether the revived T-70 weakens the case for the indigenous T925, Demiroğlu argued the opposite: the T-70 covers an immediate requirement, while the T925 is aimed at the fleet replacement wave the company expects from the early 2030s.

His figures for that wave are company estimates and should be read as such: Turkish Aerospace estimates more than 200 helicopters in Turkish Armed Forces service will need replacing between 2030 and 2040, sees perhaps another 200 in export demand, and puts total T925 potential at roughly 400 to 500 aircraft over 10 to 15 years. No customer has ordered a T925.

Four Turkish rotorcraft lines now run in parallel, and they differ mainly in where the engine comes from — which, on the evidence of the T-70, is the variable that decides whether a line keeps running.

Only one of those five rows is clean, and it is the smallest aircraft. The T625 GÖKBEY flies on the TEI-TS1400, a Turkish engine on a Turkish airframe; the SSB signed a contract with Turkish Aerospace for 57 further GÖKBEYs at IDEF 2025, with deliveries stated from 2028, and the first aircraft have already reached Turkish users — we covered the first police GÖKBEY handover and the platform’s rotorcraft type certificate separately. Envanter Medya’s Turkish-language profile of the GÖKBEY and T925 family sets out the variants in more technical detail.

The T925, by contrast, is a 12-tonne aircraft — 20.2 m long, 16.7 m rotor, 19 passengers plus two crew — currently flying on Ukrainian engines. Demiroğlu said in January 2026 that its maiden flight was planned for 2026 with deliveries from 2028; later reporting has pointed to the first quarter of 2027. Both dates are in circulation and neither has been superseded on the record. The same Motor Sich dependency sits under the T929 ATAK-2, which first flew on 28 April 2023 and whose engine deliveries have already slipped. Türkiye’s broader position on engines is set out in our survey of who builds Türkiye’s aircraft engines.

Limitations, stated plainly

The programme is smaller than advertised and is likely to stay that way. Seventy-seven aircraft, if the current batch is completed, is 71 per cent of the contracted 109 and a small fraction of the 600 that has been quoted for a decade. The restart rests on a contractual workaround rather than a change in US policy, and the underlying CAATSA designation on the SSB remains in place as far as the public record shows. The delivered-versus-completed gap means the fleet actually flying with Turkish users is smaller than the headline figure. And the requirement itself has moved: the 2007 case for a large utility fleet was built in a pre-drone force structure, which is part of why the programme was allowed to shrink rather than fought for.

Against that, the industrial result is real. Türkiye now builds helicopter engines, composite rotor blades and a domestic avionics suite it did not build in 2007, and the same supplier base underpins the GÖKBEY and T925. Our assessment of how independent Turkish defence production actually is places this case alongside the other flagship programmes, and the Turkish Aerospace company profile covers the wider portfolio the helicopter division sits inside.

FAQ

Was Türkiye’s Black Hawk programme cancelled?

No. It was partially stopped. Lockheed Martin issued a force majeure notice and halted part of its work from 5 October 2024 because US sanctions prevented it obtaining the necessary authorisations. Turkish Aerospace said in July 2026 that the programme had returned to execution with a further 39 kits authorised.

How many T-70 helicopters has Türkiye built?

Thirty-eight airframes had been completed as of July 2026, according to Turkish Aerospace. Defense News reported 31 aircraft delivered to users as of September 2025. The two figures measure different stages and neither is wrong.

Why did US sanctions stop a Turkish helicopter programme?

The December 2020 CAATSA Section 231 designation targeted the SSB, Türkiye’s defence procurement agency, not the armed forces. Because the SSB is the contracting authority for Turkish programmes, an American supplier could not obtain the licences it needed to keep delivering kits and technical assistance.

How was the T-70 programme restarted?

Turkish Aerospace’s CEO said contractual changes were made regarding the end user, agreed with Sikorsky, the US government and the Turkish government. The Ministry of National Defence, the Air Force, the Land Forces and the Gendarmerie are not themselves designated under CAATSA, which left room to restructure the paperwork.

Is the T-70 available for export?

No T-70 export has been announced. The 2016 arrangement envisaged a joint marketing effort for Sikorsky’s own S-70i in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa, but the Turkish-assembled T-70 has only ever been built for Turkish government users.

Is the T-70 engine Turkish?

It is Turkish-built, not Turkish-designed. The T700-TEI-701D is a General Electric T700 manufactured by TEI in Eskişehir under GE Aviation licence, rated at 2,000 shp. TEI produces hot-section components including the combustor domestically, but the design and the licence are American.

What replaces the T-70 in Turkish service?

Nothing replaces it in the near term. The T925, a 12-tonne indigenous design, is aimed at the fleet-replacement wave Turkish Aerospace expects from the early 2030s, and the 6-tonne T625 GÖKBEY is already in low-rate service. Neither is a direct substitute for a 10-tonne Black Hawk today.

Does Türkiye still have access to the remaining 32 aircraft of the original 109?

Turkish Aerospace says it holds the authorisation to build them if Türkiye decides to order them. As of July 2026 they were not ordered, and the company said its focus is the batch of 39.

Sources

• Lockheed Martin / Sikorsky, “Sikorsky and Turkish Industry Launch Program to Build T70 Utility Helicopters”, 16 June 2016 — programme value, 109 aircraft, option ceiling, industrial workshare
• Turkish Aerospace, T70 product page — six end users, aircraft performance figures
• TEI, T700-TEI-701D project page — 5 December 2007 decision, 21 February 2014 agreement, 236 engines, 58 engines completed by end-2021, licence terms
• Defense News, “Turkey moves ahead with T-70 deliveries despite program challenges”, 16 September 2025 — 31 delivered, cap at 39, Lockheed Martin’s US$95m loss and 2024 annual report disclosure
• Aviation Week, “Lockheed Partially Stops Work On Turkey’s T-70 Program” — force majeure notice and 5 October 2024 partial stop-work
• Defence Turkey, “Turkish Aerospace Details KAAN, T-70, T-925 and HÜRJET Roadmaps at Farnborough 2026”, 22 July 2026 — Demiroğlu’s remarks on the end-user contract change, the 39-kit batch, the 32-aircraft authorisation and T925 market estimates
• FlightGlobal, Greg Waldron, “TAI set to resume T-70 production following US sanctions relief”, 30 July 2026
• Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB), T625 GÖKBEY project page

This page is maintained. It will be updated when the first post-restart T-70 airframe is completed, when the T925 flies, or if the CAATSA designation on the SSB changes. Related reading: the KAAN fighter programme and its engine timeline, ASELSAN, and which NATO members operate Turkish defence systems.