The decision was announced in November 2019 that the Philippines would procure six T129 Atak Attack helicopters from Turkey. While no agreement has yet been signed for procuring, the United States has proposed the AH-1Z Viper for the Philippines attack helicopter procurement program.

The T129 Atak helicopter is a cost-effective solution than the AH-1Z Viper, Philippine Defence Minister Delfin Lorenzana said, adding that they have allocated a budget of USD 258 million for the procurement program.

Lorenzana added that they can only add one or two helicopters to their inventory as they procure the AH-1Z Viper, but prefer six T129 Ataks instead.

The United States approved the possible sale of eight AH-64E Apache Guardian or AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters to the Philippines.  For the Philippines, AH-64E cost us $1.5 billion and Viper helicopters were USD 450 million.