The Alp Aviation Helicopter Business Center, which was founded in Eskişehir with a $90 million investment and is planned to carry out mass production for Sikorsky helicopters, will open on Oct. 3.

The center, which will be marking a mass production for Sikorsky helicopters within the framework of the Turkish Utility Helicopter Program (TUHP), is ready to go in action. The plant in Eskişehir will produce gear and gearboxes, rotary components, rotor assemblies, flight control systems and landing gear for Sikorsky helicopters.

It is predicted that the 11,000-square-meter plant to be realized by Alp Aviation with an investment of $90 million will create a $500 million business volume.

The company, which produces with more than 600 qualified personnel and numerous subcontractors on a 23,500-square-meter indoor area and 30,000-square-meter expansion area in Eskişehir's Organized Industrial Zone, exports to markets such as the U.S., France and Canada.

Alp Aviation produces helicopter dynamics, tail rotor drive shaft systems, landing gear and aircraft structural components for customers such as Sikorsky, Pratt & Whitney, Pratt & Whitney Canada, Lockheed Martin, UTC Aerospace Systems, Honeywell and Boeing with its capabilities and facilities of its subcontractors. Alp Aviation took part in TUHP carried out with Sikorsky in association with the Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. as the main contractor. The project, which stands at about $3.5 billion in contract price, will meet Turkey's utility helicopter requirement.

Within the scope of the project, 109 T70 Black Hawk Helicopters will be produced for the Land Forces Command, Air Force Command, Gendarmerie General Command, General Staff Special Forces Command, General Directorate of Security and General Directorate of Forestry.