Pakistan has reportedly ditched a $1.5 billion deal to acquire a total of 30 attack helicopters from Turkey due to a U.S. embargo on the choppers’ engines, opting for Chinese-made aircraft instead.
The related statement was made by Maj. Gen. Babar Iftikhar, director general of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military’s PR wing, according to several local websites on Wednesday.
Accordingly, Iftikhar, answering a question during a press conference, said on Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI)-made choppers that “as far as the Turkish deal is concerned, we have moved on.”
He confirmed Pakistan was in negotiations with China for attack helicopters, and “hopefully, we will be getting some gunships (from them).”
Reports have been suggesting for some time now that Islamabad could consider buying the Z-10ME, an upgraded version of the Chinese Z-10 helicopter, while they also suggest that the Chinese helicopter engines under-performed during the tests made by Pakistan.
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