Paris Air Show 2025: Turkish Aerospace to prioritise T925 as its next helicopter development

Turkish Aerospace is temporarily sidelining the development of its T929 ATAK II heavy combat helicopter to concentrate its efforts on developing the T925: a twin-engine heavy utility helicopter with a maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of 12 tonnes.

A full-scale mock-up of the T925 was first presented internationally at the Paris Air Show in 2023. With a length of 20.2 m, a height of 3.8 m and a main rotor diameter of 16.7 m, the T925 is being designed to be able to carry 19 passengers in addition to the crew of two.

To be powered by two Motorsich TV3-117VMA-SBM1V turboshaft engines, the T925 is expected to have a maximum speed of 175 KIAS (324. km/h), a range of 280 nautical miles (519 km), an endurance of more than 2.75 hours, a service ceiling of 20,000 ft (6,096 m), a hover in ground effect ceiling of 12,850 ft (3,917 m) at its MTOW and a hover outside ground effect ceiling of 8,450 ft (2,576 m) at its MTOW.

Speaking to ESD at the 2025 Paris Air Show on 16 June, a Turkish Aerospace spokesperson explained that the decision to prioritise the T925 was made to capitalise on what the company perceives as the successful indigenous development of the T625 Gökbey light/medium utility helicopter, the first prototype of which successfully flew on 6 September 2018.

The T625 recently entered service with the Turkish Gendarmie, while the Turkish Land Forces, Air Force, Naval Forces and Coast Guard also have the type on order and Turkey is hopeful of finding a first export customer of for the T625 in Indonesia.

The Turkish Aerospace spokesperson indicated that the first T925 prototype is expected to be finished in 2026.