Lockheed intensifies efforts to sell Turkey missile defense systems
Turkey lives in a dangerous neighborhood; the accelerated pace of missile development by Iran has not gone unnoticed in Ankara, and Turkey wants to invest $4 billion in buying a missile defense system; Lockheed Martin teams up with Raytheon to win the contract
Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defense contractor, is teaming up with Raytheon in Turkey’s tender for the acquisition of long-range missiles and hoping to become the company that will ultimately supply Turkey with what it says is the ultimate line of defense against enemy airborne threats: the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC 3) missile defense system.
There are challenges, though — not only the effects of the ongoing economic crisis and the possible restructuring of defense budgets, but also competition from countries not listed among the U.S. allies — represent significant obstacles to negotiations.
Having admitted to the media on a number of occasions that Turkey currently has no defense against ballistic missiles, Undersecretariat for the Defense Industry (SSM) head Murad Bayar has said that a request for proposal (RFP) will soon be issued for the direct purchase of a long-range air and missile defense system intended to counter both missiles and aircraft. The project, valued at some $4 billion, will include the purchase of about twelve systems and follows a request for information (RFI) initially issued in March 2007.
Turkey plans to announce the winner of the project by the end of 2009.
Along with increasing risks emanating from countries in Turkey’s neighborhood has come increasing competition among the world’s leading defense companies for contracts to build elaborate defense systems that will reduce threats to Turkey’s security.
According to Dennis Cavin, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s business development for missiles and fire control department, the RFP has already gone out. He reported that a couple of weeks ago, when Turkey issued the RFP, it went not only to US companies, but also to Russian and Chinese companies. Both letters of request (LOR) and letters of offers and acceptance (LOA) were reported as having been submitted.
While U.S. companies Lockheed Martin and Raytheon have jointly offered a combination of PAC-3 and PAC-2 low-to-high-altitude surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) to be purchased through US foreign military sales (FMS) credits, the China National Precision Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CPMIEC) has offered the HQ-9 (reported export designation FD-2000) air-defense system. Turkey is hoping Russia will offer its more advanced S-400 defense system, which many suspect of having been manufactured with much Chinese input.
Washington, however, has been pressing Ankara to consider potential NATO interoperability problems that could occur should Turkey opt for a non-Western solution. Offsetting, the process of maximizing domestic input into defense expenditures, has been set at 50 percent by the Turkish authorities and offset
