New Turkish Fighter Could Involve Overseas Companies
Turkey's procurement administration has signaled it might rethink an ambitious indigenous fighter jet program, with a view to restructuring it and possibly adding foreign partners.
A senior procurement official said a recent reassessment of the program, dubbed TF-X, has indicated some “weaknesses” about the program.
The official did not detail those weaknesses but said there are questions regarding Turkey’s local capabilities and the technological feasibility of the project.
The potential changes come amid a major political reshuffling in Ankara.
On Aug. 10, Turkey’s powerful prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was elected to the presidency. He took over Aug. 28 from incumbent President Abdullah Gul. Former Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was elected by party members to take over as prime minister.
In April, Erdogan appointed Ismail Demir, an aviation expert, as the country’s new top procurement official. Demir, head of the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM), is widely expected to remain in office after Davutoglu forms a new government.
An official from Tusas Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), potential maker of the TF-X, admitted that the SSM recently took a more cautious approach to the fighter jet program.
“[SSM] may restructure the program and seek a foreign partner or partners to maximize its financial and technological feasibility,” he said.
The program now awaits an official go-ahead from the government to move into the development phase. TAI is expecting to win a contract for development.
In an earlier pre-conceptual design phase, TAI designed three draft models, one of which would become the first Turkish indigenous fighter jet.
Industry sources expect Turkey’s top defense panel, the Defense Industry Executive Committee, to discuss the fighter program at its next meeting. Officials say a fall meeting is likely.
TAI worked with Sweden’s Saab for pre-conceptual design work. But the two companies did not agree to advance their cooperation. Saab produces the JAS 39 Gripen, a lightweight single-engine multirole fighter.
Industry sources said other foreign players, including Korea Aerospace Industries, could get involved in later stages.
Turkey was hoping that the indigenous TF-X would fly by 2023, the centennial of the republic.
Turkey also intends to buy scores of F-35s. After delays of more than a year, the Defense Industry Executive Committee in May officially decided to order the country’s first two F-35 joint strike fighters.
The order is for the first F-35A aircraft with Block-3F configuration under low-rate initial production lot 10. Turkey joined the multinational F-35 program as a consortium partner during the concept demonstration phase in 1999.
Turkey wants to eventually buy 100 F-35s.■
New Turkish Fighter Could Involve Overseas Companies | Defense News | defensenews.com
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