Turkish chopper, air defense selections in 2011

[Pax Ottomana]

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 Britain’s 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, Russia’s Rosoboronexport, marketing the S300, and China’s 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.

Turkish chopper, air defense selections in 2011 | TRDEFENCE

 

[Kompromat]

Seems like Turks are on their way to develop a medium weight Stealthy air craft !-- Good Luck

 

[Jigs]

Lots of big deals will be closed next year. It is interesting that they are planning something to work along side the F-16 and F-35. So we would initially have 3 different aircraft in operation. This aircraft is sounding more like a initial test into our aircraft manufacturing capabilities rather then something that would better suit our exact replacement needs for the F-16 which will arise after 2020.

 

[Babur Han]

US firm sweetens Turkey helicopter bid Sunday, January 16, 2011
ÜMÝT ENGÝNSOY
ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News



A helicopter manufacturer from the United States, competing with an Italian rival for a Turkish tender to jointly produce 109 mostly military-utility helicopters worth around $4 billion, sweetened its bid over the weekend.

A senior official from Sikorsky Aircraft told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review that his company would guarantee that Turkey would do repair and maintenance work worth $1 billion on S-70i Black Haw International helicopters belonging to third countries.

"Turkey will do maintenance-repair-overhaul work for the platforms of countries that have S-70i Black Hawk International helicopters. We guarantee this," the official said. "Altogether, this will be worth $1 billion for Turkey's defense industry over the next 20 years."

Sikorsky Aircraft is offering Ankara the T-70, a Turkish version of the S-70i Black Hawk International, which already features in the inventories of several countries as the export model of the U.S. UH-60 Black Hawk.

Sikorsky's rival, the Italian AgustaWestland, is proposing the TUHP 149, a Turkish version of its A149, a newly-developed utility helicopter, in the tender.

Tough competition

At the last meeting in mid-December of the Defense Industry Executive Committee, Turkey's top decision-making body for defense procurement, the highly anticipated decision for the selection of the Turkish military's next utility helicopter type did not come.

Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül told reporters at the time that Sikorsky's and AgustaWestland's offers were both judged insufficient. The main point of disagreement was the price, the minister said. "Talks with both companies will continue, but we think they should cut their prices."

Turkey's decision is now expected to be announced in March at the next meeting of the Defense Industry Executive Committee, whose members include Gonul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan, Chief of Turkish General Staff Gen. Iþýk Koþaner and procurement chief Murad Bayar.

In recent months, both Sikorsky Aircraft and AgustaWestland announced a series of sweeteners in return for the selection of their utility helicopters. The tender is for a first batch of 109 utility helicopters, mostly to be used by the military and security forces, but the number is expected to rise to a total of about 300 in the future.

A top Sikorsky official said in October that his company had a fourfold benefit package worth billions of dollars to offer to Turkey. "If Turkey selects us for the 109 helicopter program, we will buy another 109 to be manufactured in Turkey and export them to third countries," Steve Estill, vice president for strategic partnerships at the Sikorsky President's Office, said at the time.

Sikorsky is also proposing to buy $1.3 billion-worth of Turkish-made helicopter components, set up a regional Black Hawk support base in Turkey and invest in a future Turkish project to build a light utility helicopter, Estill said.

Rival offer

Shortly after, AgustaWestland challenged Sikorsky's proposal. "Our competition is offering the manufacture under license of an already existing product," Guiseppe Orsi, chief executive officer of AgustaWestland said late October. "We are offering much, much more ... We are offering Turkey to become a joint developer of a brand new product ... Turkey may become a real helicopter player in the world if it chooses us."

Nearly 8,000 utility helicopters are expected to be replaced with new models throughout the world in the next few decades, Orsi said, adding that his company's Turkish program could grab international orders for at least 800 of such upgrades.

Assuming that each helicopter's acquisition price and its lifetime maintenance cost are both around $25 million and the TUHP program gets orders for 800 platforms over the next 25-30 years, "this program would collect a total of $40 billion, half of which would go to Turkey," he said.

Turkey's Army, Navy, Air Force, Special Operations Command and Coast Guard Command are among the buyers of the first batch of military utility helicopters.

Turkish Aerospace Industries, or TAI, Turkey's main aerospace manufacturer, will officially be the program's prime contractor. Several other Turkish firms also will take part in production.

The Turkish military currently operates several different types of utility helicopters, with more than 100 S-70s, more than 50 older U.S.-made UH-1 Hueys, around 20 French-designed AS-532 Cougars and about 15 Russian Mi-17s comprising its helicopter fleet.

AgustaWestland earlier secured two contracts, worth billions of dollars, to lead the joint production of 60 T-129 attack helicopters to be used by the Turkish Army.

US firm sweetens Turkey helicopter bid - Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review