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ANKARA - Turkish aviation company Kale Havacilik, which already makes hundreds of fuselage and wing parts for the F-35 Lightning II, is getting into the engine business with the company that makes the Joint Strike Fighter's power plant.
In mid-September, Kale Havacilik and U.S. aircraft engine maker Pratt & Whitney agreed to cooperate to manufacture parts for the F135, the F-35's jet engine. The two companies will set up a joint venture, Kale Pratt & Whitney Ucak Motorlari A.S., in which Kale Havacilik will hold a 51 percent ownership stake; Pratt & Whitney will hold the remaining 49 percent.
The venture will spend an initial $60 million on the plant, and eventually up to $150 million more.
The plant will employ about 700 and produce 300 parts for the F135 after it comes online in 2012, according to company officials.
"We forecast very fast growth," Osman Okyay, head of the Kale Group's technical and chemicals department, told reporters in Tuzla, south of Istanbul, where Kale Havacilik, Kale Group's aviation arm, is based. "We may start production of up to 1,000 [F135] parts after additional investment in the future."
Kale Group began as a ceramics producer in 1957 and has grown into a conglomerate whose other acti-vities include chemicals, electrical parts, information technology, tourism, food, transport and energy.
"We have had long-term partnerships in Turkey. We may consider producing some other aircraft engine parts with Kale," said David Galuska, Pratt & Whitney's vice president.
Pratt & Whitney, based in East Hartford, Conn., is a division of United Technologies, a U.S. industrial group that also owns Sikorsky Aircraft, a major producer of helicopters for the U.S. military and foreign customers.
Pratt & Whitney has been in partnership deals with the national carrier Turkish Airlines and private aviation company Alp Havacilik, another Turkish subcontractor in the U.S.-led, multinational Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program.
At a ceremony marking the deal's signing, Turkey's chief defense procurement official, Murad Bayar, said that the local aviation industry has won $7 billion to $8 billion in JSF subcontracts.
"We have come a long way," Bayar said.
Kale Havacilik already produces some 800 fuselage and wing parts for the single-engine JSF under a separate subcontract with Boeing.
Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said the new facility will eventually make parts for other engines.
"I have every confidence that Kale and Pratt & Whitney will manufacture parts for other aircraft engines, too. We view Pratt & Whitney as a long-term investor in Turkey," Gonul said.
Analysts said the Kale-Pratt & Whitney deal marks a new phase in Turkish participation in the Joint Strike Fighter program.
"The deal brings a new dimension to Turkish-JSF partnership: joint production. On the one hand, it solidifies Turkish commitment to the program and on the other, it helps Turkish participation evolve into a new phase," said Ozgur Eksi, a defense analyst based here.
Eksi said the partnership also underlines Pratt & Whitney's confidence in private defense manufacturers in Turkey.
"This is different than simply ordering a few noncritical parts from a foreign company. What we see in this example is mutual commitment to a joint production project" in which a U.S. company is taking a further step by setting up a joint venture with a Turkish company, he said.
In 2007, Turkey's parliament approved participation in the Lockheed Martin-led F-35/JSF program, whose other partner nations include Britain, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia and Norway.
Turkish officials say the country expects to buy 100 F-35s, but the number has not been finalized.
The F-35's rivals in the Eurofighter consortium are seeking to sell Turkey a squadron of twin-engine Eurofighter Typhoon combat jets. The European group is offering Turkey partnership and a large share of industrial participation in the Typhoon program.
For now, Pratt & Whitney appears to be the only engine maker for the JSF program. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Sept. 20 that President Barack Obama is committed to ending funding this year for a second engine being developed for the next-generation stealth fighter.
"The president's serious about drawing the line," Reuters quoted Gibbs as saying in reference to Obama's threat to veto any defense spending bill that funds the alternate F136 engine being built by General Electric and Britain's Rolls-Royce.
While the U.S. Senate has so far shot down the alternate engine, the House Armed Services Committee in May included in its version of the 2011 defense appropriations bill roughly $480 million to continue work on the F136.
The House and Senate are expected to vote on the bill's final version after the Nov. 2 congressional elections.
Turkey's Air Force is involved in a major modernization program. In addition to the 100 F-35s, forecast to cost about $13 billion, Turkey has a deal with Lockheed to buy 30 modern F-16 fighters worth about $1.8 billion.
Turkey is expected to receive the JSFs shortly after 2015, and the 30 F-16 Block 50s are planned to meet stop-gap requirements until then.
Turkey's present F-16 fleet has about 210 older aircraft that are being upgraded by Lockheed in a program worth about $1.1 billion.
Powering the F-35 - Defense News
In mid-September, Kale Havacilik and U.S. aircraft engine maker Pratt & Whitney agreed to cooperate to manufacture parts for the F135, the F-35's jet engine. The two companies will set up a joint venture, Kale Pratt & Whitney Ucak Motorlari A.S., in which Kale Havacilik will hold a 51 percent ownership stake; Pratt & Whitney will hold the remaining 49 percent.
The venture will spend an initial $60 million on the plant, and eventually up to $150 million more.
The plant will employ about 700 and produce 300 parts for the F135 after it comes online in 2012, according to company officials.
"We forecast very fast growth," Osman Okyay, head of the Kale Group's technical and chemicals department, told reporters in Tuzla, south of Istanbul, where Kale Havacilik, Kale Group's aviation arm, is based. "We may start production of up to 1,000 [F135] parts after additional investment in the future."
Kale Group began as a ceramics producer in 1957 and has grown into a conglomerate whose other acti-vities include chemicals, electrical parts, information technology, tourism, food, transport and energy.
"We have had long-term partnerships in Turkey. We may consider producing some other aircraft engine parts with Kale," said David Galuska, Pratt & Whitney's vice president.
Pratt & Whitney, based in East Hartford, Conn., is a division of United Technologies, a U.S. industrial group that also owns Sikorsky Aircraft, a major producer of helicopters for the U.S. military and foreign customers.
Pratt & Whitney has been in partnership deals with the national carrier Turkish Airlines and private aviation company Alp Havacilik, another Turkish subcontractor in the U.S.-led, multinational Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program.
At a ceremony marking the deal's signing, Turkey's chief defense procurement official, Murad Bayar, said that the local aviation industry has won $7 billion to $8 billion in JSF subcontracts.
"We have come a long way," Bayar said.
Kale Havacilik already produces some 800 fuselage and wing parts for the single-engine JSF under a separate subcontract with Boeing.
Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said the new facility will eventually make parts for other engines.
"I have every confidence that Kale and Pratt & Whitney will manufacture parts for other aircraft engines, too. We view Pratt & Whitney as a long-term investor in Turkey," Gonul said.
Analysts said the Kale-Pratt & Whitney deal marks a new phase in Turkish participation in the Joint Strike Fighter program.
"The deal brings a new dimension to Turkish-JSF partnership: joint production. On the one hand, it solidifies Turkish commitment to the program and on the other, it helps Turkish participation evolve into a new phase," said Ozgur Eksi, a defense analyst based here.
Eksi said the partnership also underlines Pratt & Whitney's confidence in private defense manufacturers in Turkey.
"This is different than simply ordering a few noncritical parts from a foreign company. What we see in this example is mutual commitment to a joint production project" in which a U.S. company is taking a further step by setting up a joint venture with a Turkish company, he said.
In 2007, Turkey's parliament approved participation in the Lockheed Martin-led F-35/JSF program, whose other partner nations include Britain, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia and Norway.
Turkish officials say the country expects to buy 100 F-35s, but the number has not been finalized.
The F-35's rivals in the Eurofighter consortium are seeking to sell Turkey a squadron of twin-engine Eurofighter Typhoon combat jets. The European group is offering Turkey partnership and a large share of industrial participation in the Typhoon program.
For now, Pratt & Whitney appears to be the only engine maker for the JSF program. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Sept. 20 that President Barack Obama is committed to ending funding this year for a second engine being developed for the next-generation stealth fighter.
"The president's serious about drawing the line," Reuters quoted Gibbs as saying in reference to Obama's threat to veto any defense spending bill that funds the alternate F136 engine being built by General Electric and Britain's Rolls-Royce.
While the U.S. Senate has so far shot down the alternate engine, the House Armed Services Committee in May included in its version of the 2011 defense appropriations bill roughly $480 million to continue work on the F136.
The House and Senate are expected to vote on the bill's final version after the Nov. 2 congressional elections.
Turkey's Air Force is involved in a major modernization program. In addition to the 100 F-35s, forecast to cost about $13 billion, Turkey has a deal with Lockheed to buy 30 modern F-16 fighters worth about $1.8 billion.
Turkey is expected to receive the JSFs shortly after 2015, and the 30 F-16 Block 50s are planned to meet stop-gap requirements until then.
Turkey's present F-16 fleet has about 210 older aircraft that are being upgraded by Lockheed in a program worth about $1.1 billion.
Powering the F-35 - Defense News
