Bilal Khan (Quwa)
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In the case of the AW159 and T129, the issue was less of inter-services commonality and more of taking advantage of PAC's CTS800 MRO. But as I suggested above, even with no PAA T129s, the PN will still look at the AW159.You know, the tri services rarely bother with supply-spare chain commonality. Each branch think it knows the best, and it will acquire its own solution, no matter how much out of box.
We should start advocating for AW-159. Afterall, several times our advocacy on this forum has been realized by the navy.
The one dark horse would be the AW149.
The PN prefers a 9-10-ton helicopter. So a navalized AW149 could be a bet.
Since this will be a new configuration, the PN could also ask Leonardo to add some PN-specific customizations (e.g. making them compatible with Turkey's AShMs and torpedoes, instead of only MBDA/Leonardo ones). The OEM could be open to sharing the NRE cost since they can offer the platform to other customers.
Going with the AW149 would also eliminate the need for the AW101. The AW149 can work as the principal anti-ship, anti-sub, CSAR, and marines support helicopter. IMHO 18 AW149s for $50-60 m each could also be an option.