In an effort to keep the door open on the potential purchase of the Ka-50-2
as Turkey's choice for attack helicopter, Russian Premier Mikhail Kasyanov during
his recent visit to Turkey, offered the Ka-50-2 Erdogan helicopter at half the
original price, according to Russian media reports.
The reason for the radical price cutting according to Russian sources, is that
the Bell AH-1Z Super Cobra, although generally accepted as the winner of the
competition for 145 aircraft has not been confirmed by the Turkish authorities
and comments by the Turks have left the suggestion that the Ka-50-2 may still
have a chance. According to one official of the Russian Aerospace Agency, a
few weeks before the visit by Kasyanov, the "Turkish tender is not yet lost;
we are preparing a renewed offer to beat down the Americans".
The value of the Turkish tender ranges from $3 to $4.5 billion, according to
western sources. Kasyanov is however, reported to have offered Turkey the Ka-50-2,
which received a favourable review according to reports from the Turkish evaluators,
for $2 billion. With a further sweetner to the deal that $0.3billion would be
offset against Russian debts to Turkey. Alexei Ogarev General Director of
Rosvooruzheniye, has even suggested, according to media reports, that further
discounts are possible if Bell improves its terms.
According to reports Kasyanov's mission has also tied the potential purchase
of the Ka-50-2s into a larger package of economic and defence proposals that
include improving the treatment of Turkish investment in Russia to further cooperation
on the development of electricity supplies from Russia to Northern Turkey across
Georgia.
For both Kamov and its avionics partner IAI, the developmentof the Ka-50-2
Erdogan has been a major commitment and strategy change. The original Ka-50
with Russian avionics from RPKB of Ramenskoye and other local avionics suppliers,
where dispensed with, to allow the introduction of NATO compliant systems and
the aircraft was also proposed in a tandem configiration after the Turkish decided
they did want the Ka-52's Alligator's side by side layout. The cooperation with
an Israeli producer was also deemed to be a bold move in the latter part of
the nineties given the general state of Russian -Israeli relations.
The question now is how will Kamov and its manufacturer Progress reduce the
cost of the aircraft to meet the new price? It seems likely that the major loser
will be IAI, although the assumption has to be made, that any cuts will have
to walk a narrow line between cost and effectiveness/NATO compatibility. The
most likely element to see cuts in the view of some commentators is probably
the aircraft's armament where a panoply of Russian and other suppliers equipment
has been discussed. Israeli missiles could be one area of cost reduction in
favour of the lower cost Vikhar-M displayed on the mockup of the aircraft in
July 1999.
With a number of possible contracts outstanding in this area, the most imminent
being South Korea, success in the tender is important, suggesting that desperate
measures will be taken to secure the machine's and to a certain degree Russian
helicopter designers/manufacturers, place in the global market. For both Kamov
and Progress, Arseniev, the contracts remains particularly important for their
future at a time when their major customer, the Russian military is only providing
upgrade work of small value. Progress has however, recently received orders
for the Mosquito anti ship missile for the Chinese.
While Russian producers may sound desperate at this point, it should be noted
that few observers gave the Ka-50-2 any chance of survival in the competition.
It has however, survived as the runner up when NATO producers Boeing , Augusta
and Eurocopter have fallen out. While accepting the Turkish desire to prove
its independence of NATO, this performance is testiment to the persistence and
skill of the charastmatic General Director of Kamov, Sergei Mikheyev and the ability
of his aircraft to perform well in the windy and mountainous conditions of much
of Turkey. Other reports have also suggested that the Turks may favour the Ka-50-2
on the basis of its combination of simplicity and effectiveness compared with
its western rivals. A key reason cited for the favourability of the Super Cobra,
a development of the AH-1 Cobra currently in service in numbers with the Turkish
defence forces.
The Turks have also seen the contract as the basis of the creation of a Turkish
helicopter industry with only the first batches exported and the latter aircraft
in the other two batches assembled locally before 2010. This are may also offer
the Russians some leeway over the Americans by offering greater local production
opportunities although it is unlikely that the Russians could offer anything
like the offset investment deals being currently proposed in the Czech fighter
tender.
The possibility remains that the order may be split, a possibility admitted
to by both Bell and Kamov in private, and one that has precedent after the decision
by Malayasia to buy both MiG-29 and F-18s in the past.
