ANKARA, Turkey — The Turkish government will set up a new company to design an indigenous engine for a locally made Turkish helicopter in the making, according to a top procurement official.



Ismail Demir, head of the procurement office Undersecretary for Defence Industries, or SSM, said the new company will take over the work to design a helicopter engine from Tusas Engine Industries, or TEI, a Turkish government-controlled partnership with General Electric.



"We proposed joint development [of the helicopter engine] to GE. They agreed, but then put forward restrictions. We wanted to share the copyright, but they wanted it for themselves. Now we’ll build our own engine," Demir said.



TEI already has a helicopter design unit. That unit, Demir said, will now be transferred to the new company.



TEI’s general manager, Mahmut Aksit, estimates basic work to develop the planned engine at about two years. "A prototype can be built in four and a half years and certification would take another one and a half years. I expect it would take seven to 10 years to complete development and to commercialize the engine," he said.



