The Turkish National Defense Ministry has dismissed the reports that the U.S. company Lockheed Martin company had a direct agreement with the ministry on upgrading Turkish F-16s.
On Tuesday, Lockheed Martin Corp. said in a statement that it won a contract worth $635 million to upgrade Turkey's fleet of F-16s.
According to reports appeared in Turkish press, the tender for upgrading 216 F-16 was conferred to the American company, the world's largest defense contractor.
The reports also included that the Texas-based company's board of directors included retired U.S. Gen. Joseph Ralston, who was appointed by Bush administration as special envoy for counterterrorism to cooperate with his Turkish counterpart.
A statement from the ministry said that the project was being conducted with the U.S. government and that the agreement in question was signed on April 26, 2005 as made public before.
The statement added that what the agreement press reported was something between the U.S. government and the U.S. company, and Turkish Defense Ministry had no direct agreements with the company in question.
Turkey's Tusas Aerospace Industries (TAI) will also be included in the project as a subcontractor and thus Turkish defense Industry companies will earn half the total amount to be paid for the project as part of the offset agreement, the statement added.
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