The T129 ATAK is an all-weather multirole twin-engine attack helicopter based on the Agusta A129 Mangusta platform.
Though Turkey at least ostensibly remains a member of NATO, its relations with other NATO partners, especially the United States, have been frayed in recent years under the rule of strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This is in no small part due to Erdogan’s duplicitous playing of both sides of the Russia-Ukraine War (cozying up to Vladimir Putin on the one hand while selling tank-killing Baytaktar TB2 drones to Ukraine on the other hand). Erdogan’s brazen call for the destruction of Israel also hasn’t won’t him any friends in the Trump administration either.
Regardless of the geopolitical head games and machinations that Erdogan chooses to play, the Turkish arms industry continues to expand its worldwide customer base. And now, the newest addition may come as a surprise to some observers: the Horn of Africa nation of Somalia, more specifically the Somali Air Force (SAF).
Turkey, Somalia, and the T129 ATAK
The story comes to us from Jean Carmela Lim and Andy Murray in a March 27, 2025, article for AeroTime titled “Somalia reportedly to acquire Turkish T129 ATAK attack helicopters.” To wit:
“The Somalian Government will reportedly use the undisclosed number of T129s to enhance the Somali Air Force’s operational capabilities against security threats. One particular threat to Somalia’s security is the insurgent group Al-Shabaab, also known as the Islamic Emirate of Somalia. Al-Shabaab is a transnational Salafi Jihadist military and political organization known to be linked with Al-Qaeda forces… Although there is no confirmation of the number of T129s due to arrive in Somalia, various Turkish media outlets have posted photos on X of Somalian pilots and soldiers training in Turkey to operate a number of helicopters, including the T129.”
And going back to the aforementioned Bayraktar, Lim and Murray note that the Somali government is purchasing an unspecified number of these drones as an additional force enhancer.
Present State of the Somali Air Force
Some of us who are old enough to remember the infamous Mogadishu firefight of 1993 might be initially inclined to scoff by saying, “What? Somalia actually has an air force now?” To be sure, the SAF was virtually nonexistent when that infamous battle took place, as it had essentially collapsed two years prior in the immediate aftermath of then-President Mohamed Siad Barre (1910-1995) fleeing the country.
Well, in the intervening decades, the SAF has come a long way. The SAF officially reopened its headquarters circa July 2015 and is currently commanded by Major General Mohamud Sheikh Ali, with an estimated 170 personnel (forty to fifty commissioned officers and 120 to 130 non-commissioned officers and junior enlisted airmen) under his command.
T129 ATAK: Brief History and Specifications
Developed jointly by AgustaWestland and Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) for the Turkish Land Forces Command (TLF), the T129 ATAK made its operational debut on September 28, 2009, and entered official operational status in 2014. It is an all-weather multirole twin-engine attack helicopter based on the Agusta A129 Mangusta (“Mongoose”) platform.
Tech specs of the warbird—courtesy of *Army Recognition*—are as follows:
Crew: Two
Fuselage Length: 14.6 meters (47.9 feet)
Rotor Diameter: 11.9 meters (39.0 feet)
Height: 3.4 meters (11.1 feet)
Max Takeoff Weight: 5,000 kilograms (11,023 lbs.)
Powerplant: Two Honeywell/Rolls-Royce LHTEC-CTS800-4A turboshaft engines
Max Airspeed: 269 km/h (167 mph, 145 knots)
Range: 561 kilometers (347 statute miles, 302 nautical miles)
Armament:
Guns:
20mm three-barrel Gatling-type turreted cannon with 500 rounds of ammunition mounted under the nose
(Optional) Gun pods armed with 12.7 mm (.50 caliber) machine guns
Missiles/Rockets:
Eight anti-tank guided missiles and air-to-air missiles
Four 70mm rocket launchers
About the Author: Christian D. Orr
Christian D. Orr was previously a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ) and19FortyFive. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch, The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). If you’d like to pick his brain further, you can ofttimes find him at the Old Virginia Tobacco Company (OVTC) lounge in Manassas, Virginia, partaking of fine stogies and good quality human camaraderie.
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