Roketsan To Equip Airbus Helicopters With CIRIT Missile System

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's state-controlled missile maker, Roketsan, has signed a deal to equip Airbus Helicopters' H135M and H145M platforms with its laser-guided missile system, the CIRIT, the company announced.

The H135M and H145M are Airbus' lightweight, armed combat helicopter platforms. The CIRIT is a 77mm guided-missile system. It has a range of 8 kilometers.

"We present to our customers [an] extremely versatile platform with highly effective weapons for armed scout operations. What we believe is that this program will lead to a long-term cooperation between our companies to extend our solutions to allied countries['] armed forces," said Emin Alpman, Roketsan's chairman, according to a company news release.

Olivier Michalon, Airbus Helicopters' senior vice president and head of Europe, said: "Airbus Helicopters is proud to reinforce its industrial cooperation with Roketsan. We are optimistic about the genuine interest such [a] solution based on the H135M and H145M could raise both in Turkey and in the international market."

The CIRIT is becoming Roketsan's signature export system. In early 2014, Roketsan won a $196.2 million contract from the United Arab Emirates for the CIRIT system. The Turkish army has chosen the CIRIT system to equip its T129, AH-1P Cobra and AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters, citing low-cost precision-strike capabilities of the system.

Roketsan signed a deal to equip Airbus Helicopters' H135M and H145M platforms with its laser-guided missile system.

Photo Credit: Roketsan

Last year, Roketsan also signed a deal with the Polish company WZL1 to make its debut in the country. Roketsan said the deal with WZL1 aims to have the CIRIT, along with another system, the UMTAS, to be integrated into platforms in the inventory of the Polish Armed Forces.

According to Sami Atalan, a defense expert and editor at C4Defense, "the latest deal with Airbus [Helicopters] illustrates the competitiveness of the system and may prompt further export contracts."

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