Lockheed awaits Turk position on PAC-3 air defense systems

Lockheed Martin, the world's largest arms manufacturer, has had preliminary talks for a potential sale to Turkey of its Patriot Advanced Capability-3, (PAC-3) ballistic missile defense systems and is now waiting for Ankara's next move on the nation's air defense program, worth $1 billion, the company said on Wednesday.

We did have some preliminary discussions with the government of Turkey, Mike Trotsky, Lockheed Martin's vice president for air and missile defense systems, told a conference call with defense reporters in the United States. He said company officials had provided Turkish counterparts with details on the PAC-3's capabilities, adding, We're waiting to see how they will respond.

Another company official said last August that Lockheed Martin would be willing to provide technology transfer to Turkey if its solution was selected. We're seeking industry partners in Turkey now to help us manufacture this system to provide maximum benefit not only on defense capability, but also on technology transfer, John Ward, vice president of international business development for Lockheed Martin's Missiles and Fire Control unit, said at the time.

Trotsky also said that Greece was expected at some point to upgrade its PAC-2 system to the more advanced PAC-3 version. I expect, in the end, all of the people that currently own the Patriot system and haven't upgraded to PAC-3 will do so in the next five to 10 years, he said. Countries like Greece, who have a PAC-2 system, someday will upgrade to PAC-3. Those are all potential customers of PAC-3 international expansion.

The PAC-3 is an upgraded version of Raytheon's MIM-104 Patriot medium-range surface-to-air missile. The Patriot became the world's only combat-proven tactical ballistic missile defense system during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Nine nations have bought a version of the Patriot air defense system that entered production in 1980: Germany, Greece, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Taiwan.

The Defense Industry Executive Committee, Turkey's top decision-making body on procurement -- whose members include Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt and Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül -- last June formally launched the anti-missile air defense program. Shortly later the government earmarked a nearly $1 billion fund to finance the program to protect critical targets from attacks by ballistic surface-to-surface missiles.

The Undersecretariat for the Defense Industry (SSM), Turkey's defense procurement agency, is expected to launch an international tender for the air defense program soon. The system would include at least four anti-missile batteries meant to protect strategic targets from incoming missiles, radars and related subsystems.

One U.S. industry source familiar with the Turkish program said that after launching the project for a first system, Ankara further was planning to buy a second system, this time by coproduction favoring local industry.

Defense analysts said that PAC-3 was expected to mainly compete with the Russian S-300 and S-400 systems for the Turkish contract. Russia's S-300P long-range air defense system has been exported to China, Croatia, Greece, India, Slovakia and Vietnam. Russia recently has developed an upgraded variant called the Triumf S-400 to defend Moscow.

Lockheed Martin is a contractor for several of the U.S. military's missile defense programs, including Patriot, the Aegis ballistic missile and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD). The company said on Wednesday that it had received a $619 million contract from the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency to begin work on two THAAD units.

ÜMİT ENGİNSOY, WASHINGTON - Turkish Daily News , LINK.....