buglerbilly
01-01-11, 08:54 PM
Turkey to make chopper, air defense selections in 2011
Friday, December 31, 2010
ÜMİT ENGİNSOY
ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News
The US' Sikorsky Aircraft offers the T-70, a Turkish version of the S-70 Blackhawk International.
In 2011, Turkey will select the foreign winners of its billion-dollar tenders for both utility helicopters and long-range air and missile defense systems as part of a drive to bolster its defense procurement assets.
The Defense Industry Executive, Turkey's top decision-making body for defense procurement, was widely expected to choose the winner either Italy and Britains AugustaWestland or the United States Sikorsky Aircraft for the $4 billion, 109-aircraft utility helicopter program at its last meeting in mid-December, but the decision was not announced.
"The offers by Sikorsky Aircraft and AgustaWestland were insufficient," Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül said after the Dec. 15 meeting, adding that the main point of disagreement was the price. "Talks with both companies will continue, but we think that they should cut down their prices.
Gönül is on the executive committee, along with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Chief of the Turkish General Staff Gen. Işık Koşaner and procurement chief Murad Bayar.
AgustaWestland has proposed to build the TUHP 149, a Turkish version of its A149, a newly-developed utility helicopter. The A149's full prototype will have its first flight in January.
Sikorsky Aircraft, meanwhile, has offered the T-70, a Turkish version of the S-70 Black Hawk International, used by dozens of countries around the world, including Turkey.
"Now, the utility helicopter selection will almost be certain to come at the next committee meeting, most probably in March," said one procurement official.
Air defense system
Another outstanding procurement issue is Turkey's plan to purchase its first long-range air defense and missile defense system, which is expected to protect against both fighter aircraft and ballistic missiles.
A partnership of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin from the United States, with their Patriot Advanced Capability-3, or PAC-3, competing against the mainly Italian-French Eurosam, the maker of the SAMP/T-Aster 30, Russias Rosoboronexport, marketing the S300, and Chinas Precision Machinery Export-Import Corp., offering its HQ-9.
The Russian and Chinese systems are unlikely to win the competition because their products are not compatible with NATO systems, analysts said. "The real competition is between the American PAC-3 and the European SAMP/T," an Ankara-based analyst said earlier this week.
The system Turkey eventually chooses will be marginally integrated into the systems envisaged by the collective missile systems NATO leaders decided to implement during a summit in Lisbon in November.
Shortly before that NATO summit, Gönül said the NATO missile shield plan should contribute financially to Turkey's national air and missile defense program. His remarks led to speculation in defense circles that Turkey was urging the United States to fund Ankara's air and missile defense plan in the event of the selection of the PAC-3 as the Turkish system.
In any case, Turkey's probable selection between the PAC-3 and the SAMP/T is expected this year, analysts said.
'Own fighter aircraft'
A third matter is Turkey ambitious plan to design, develop and produce its first own fighter aircraft. Gönül announced that program at the end of the executive committee's Dec. 15 meeting.
He said the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries, Turkey's procurement agency, will launch talks with Turkish Aerospace Industries, the country's main aerospace company, for a "conceptual design" of a fighter aircraft and a jet trainer to be built after 2020.
"This is... effectively a decision for making Turkey's first fighter aircraft," he said, adding that Turkey may cooperate with South Korea, but implied that this was only a small possibility.
"In terms of design, South Korea is about one or two years ahead of us. We can manufacture the new fighter aircraft with them, we don't rule this out. But the decision we have taken now calls for the production of a totally national and original aircraft," Gönül said.
This year, Turkey is planning to hold talks with South Korea and other potential partners before the TAI completes the study on the fighter's conceptual design, the procurement official said.
Turkey has already selected the U.S.-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Lightning II as one of its next-generation fighter aircraft types. It plans to buy about 100 F-35 aircraft worth nearly $15 billion. Many Turkish companies are members of the Joint Strike Fighter consortium of nine Western nations, and are producing parts for the aircraft. Turkey also will receive 30 modern F-16 Block 50 fighters from Lockheed Martin, the F-35's top maker, as a stop-gap solution until F-35 deliveries begin around 2015.
Gonul said Turkey's newly-designed fighter aircraft "would be a next-generation type, would replace the [older, U.S.-made] F-4Es and would function well with the F-16s and the F-35."
As such, this means the new aircraft will mostly be used for air-to-air fighting as the F-4Es are mainly air-to-air fighters, while the F-16s and F-35s are generally designed for air-to-ground operations.
Friday, December 31, 2010
ÜMİT ENGİNSOY
ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News
The US' Sikorsky Aircraft offers the T-70, a Turkish version of the S-70 Blackhawk International.
In 2011, Turkey will select the foreign winners of its billion-dollar tenders for both utility helicopters and long-range air and missile defense systems as part of a drive to bolster its defense procurement assets.
The Defense Industry Executive, Turkey's top decision-making body for defense procurement, was widely expected to choose the winner either Italy and Britains AugustaWestland or the United States Sikorsky Aircraft for the $4 billion, 109-aircraft utility helicopter program at its last meeting in mid-December, but the decision was not announced.
"The offers by Sikorsky Aircraft and AgustaWestland were insufficient," Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül said after the Dec. 15 meeting, adding that the main point of disagreement was the price. "Talks with both companies will continue, but we think that they should cut down their prices.
Gönül is on the executive committee, along with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Chief of the Turkish General Staff Gen. Işık Koşaner and procurement chief Murad Bayar.
AgustaWestland has proposed to build the TUHP 149, a Turkish version of its A149, a newly-developed utility helicopter. The A149's full prototype will have its first flight in January.
Sikorsky Aircraft, meanwhile, has offered the T-70, a Turkish version of the S-70 Black Hawk International, used by dozens of countries around the world, including Turkey.
"Now, the utility helicopter selection will almost be certain to come at the next committee meeting, most probably in March," said one procurement official.
Air defense system
Another outstanding procurement issue is Turkey's plan to purchase its first long-range air defense and missile defense system, which is expected to protect against both fighter aircraft and ballistic missiles.
A partnership of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin from the United States, with their Patriot Advanced Capability-3, or PAC-3, competing against the mainly Italian-French Eurosam, the maker of the SAMP/T-Aster 30, Russias Rosoboronexport, marketing the S300, and Chinas Precision Machinery Export-Import Corp., offering its HQ-9.
The Russian and Chinese systems are unlikely to win the competition because their products are not compatible with NATO systems, analysts said. "The real competition is between the American PAC-3 and the European SAMP/T," an Ankara-based analyst said earlier this week.
The system Turkey eventually chooses will be marginally integrated into the systems envisaged by the collective missile systems NATO leaders decided to implement during a summit in Lisbon in November.
Shortly before that NATO summit, Gönül said the NATO missile shield plan should contribute financially to Turkey's national air and missile defense program. His remarks led to speculation in defense circles that Turkey was urging the United States to fund Ankara's air and missile defense plan in the event of the selection of the PAC-3 as the Turkish system.
In any case, Turkey's probable selection between the PAC-3 and the SAMP/T is expected this year, analysts said.
'Own fighter aircraft'
A third matter is Turkey ambitious plan to design, develop and produce its first own fighter aircraft. Gönül announced that program at the end of the executive committee's Dec. 15 meeting.
He said the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries, Turkey's procurement agency, will launch talks with Turkish Aerospace Industries, the country's main aerospace company, for a "conceptual design" of a fighter aircraft and a jet trainer to be built after 2020.
"This is... effectively a decision for making Turkey's first fighter aircraft," he said, adding that Turkey may cooperate with South Korea, but implied that this was only a small possibility.
"In terms of design, South Korea is about one or two years ahead of us. We can manufacture the new fighter aircraft with them, we don't rule this out. But the decision we have taken now calls for the production of a totally national and original aircraft," Gönül said.
This year, Turkey is planning to hold talks with South Korea and other potential partners before the TAI completes the study on the fighter's conceptual design, the procurement official said.
Turkey has already selected the U.S.-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Lightning II as one of its next-generation fighter aircraft types. It plans to buy about 100 F-35 aircraft worth nearly $15 billion. Many Turkish companies are members of the Joint Strike Fighter consortium of nine Western nations, and are producing parts for the aircraft. Turkey also will receive 30 modern F-16 Block 50 fighters from Lockheed Martin, the F-35's top maker, as a stop-gap solution until F-35 deliveries begin around 2015.
Gonul said Turkey's newly-designed fighter aircraft "would be a next-generation type, would replace the [older, U.S.-made] F-4Es and would function well with the F-16s and the F-35."
As such, this means the new aircraft will mostly be used for air-to-air fighting as the F-4Es are mainly air-to-air fighters, while the F-16s and F-35s are generally designed for air-to-ground operations.