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Sunday, January 30, 2011

English News : Italy, Brazil Top Turkey's List Of Potential FX Partners

TFX

ANKARA - Turkish officials are seeking foreign partners to help build the country's first fighter jet and will likely open talks with Italy's Alenia Aeronautica and Brazil's Embraer, said top procurement officials familiar with the FX program.

"We expect TAI to open negotiations with both manufacturers later this year," one procurement official said. "And in 2012 we'll know with whom we'll take the road."

The government has asked the national aerospace company, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), to figure out how the partnership will work. TAI will also receive $20 million from the national procurement office, or the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM), to produce the "conceptual design" of a fighter aircraft to be built after 2020.

In recent years, Turkey's drive to make more of its top-line arms has produced indigenous programs for its Land Force and Navy. The FX effort aims to build airpower increasingly independent of U.S. technology, analysts and officials here said.

Last December, Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said Turkey would develop and manufacture its next air-to-air fighter aircraft, either by itself or in cooperation with another country.

Gonul said Turkey may cooperate with South Korea but implied it is not a strong possibility.

Turkish defense officials said the "Korean option" failed because Seoul insisted on having an overwhelming majority in the effort.

If implemented, the program is meant to give Turkey airpower parallel to its present and future U.S.-made fleet.

The Turkish Air Force now operates F-16s and F-4s. Turkey also is a partner in the U.S.-led Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) consortium that is building the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jet.

Ankara plans to buy about 100 F-35 aircraft worth nearly $15 billion. Many Turkish companies are members of the JSF 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 stopgap until F-35 deliveries begin around 2015.

Officials said that Turkey's new fighter "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."

They confirmed the new aircraft mostly would be meant for air-to-air fighting. The F-4Es are air-to-air fighters, while the F-16s and F-35s are designed mainly for air-to-ground operations.

Turkey's present fleet of up to 90 F-4 aircraft has been modernized jointly by Israel and Turkey, practically falling outside of U.S. operational control. But these Vietnam-era fighter jets will phase out after 2020.

"What Turkey seeks is apparently to have an airpower partly independent of U.S. operational controls," said one analyst here who asked not to be named. "The new aircraft other than the F-16s and the F-35s will serve this strategic goal. The Turks are seeking a two-pronged approach: to maintain both U.S. and national assets; U.S., with the upgraded F-16s and the F-35s, and national with the FX program."

The FX program means Turkey will abstain from buying a European fighter. In December, Gonul ruled out any potential acquisition of the Typhoon fighter jet built by the Eurofighter consortium.

But Turkish procurement officials still voiced willingness for talks with Alenia Aeronautica, one of the Eurofighter partners, for separate talks for the coming Turkish fighter, along with Embraer.

"We view both companies as suitable partners for our national [fighter] procurement program," the procurement official said.(DN/WDN)

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