Possible Delays Jeopardize Turk F-16 Deal
Turkey may rethink a plan to buy 30 new F-16 Block 50 fighter aircraft worth about $1.65 billion, because a delivery timetable proposed by U.S. manufacturer Lockheed Martin does not meet the Turkish Air Force’s operational capability requirements, procurement and military officials said.
“We need the F-16 deliveries to start by 2009 or 2010, but the manufacturer proposes 2014 and it’s too late,” one procurement official said.
Turkey plans to buy the Lockheed-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as its next-generation fighter, and expects to spend nearly $10.7 billion for 100 aircraft over the next 20 years. Under current plans, F-35 deliveries to Turkey should start in 2014.
As a stop-gap solution until then, Ankara last year decided to buy 30 advanced F-16 Block 50s. The U.S. Congress approved the planned sale in October, paving the way for contract negotiations between the U.S. company and the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries, Turkey’s procurement agency. But the talks face troubles.
“The idea of deliveries starting in 2014 does not meet our operational capability plans,” one senior military official said. “It would be meaningless for us to receive the F-16s at that time.”
The military and procurement officials both said that unless an agreement was reached on the timing of deliveries, Turkey might have to abandon the new F-16 plan.
Lockheed Martin officials said talks were continuing with Turkey and that the company was working to satisfy the customer.
Restrictive Export Rules
In another hitch, the Turkish military official complained over what he called serious operational restrictions the U.S. government wants to impose on the aircraft’s use by Ankara.
“The Americans don’t want us to use the fighter for a number of purposes, and we see it as kind of intervention into our national defense planning, which is discouraging,” the official said without elaborating.
Pentagon officials said the United States implements standard procedures in line with export rules and regulations, and that Washington does not discriminate against Turkey or any other ally.
The Turkish Air Force’s present inventory of fighters is exclusively of U.S. design. It operates about 215 older F-16s and more obsolete F-4Es and F-5s.
The Air Force’s desire to continue to stick to the American school was a key factor in Ankara’s decision last year to opt for the F-35 over the European-built Eurofighter Typhoon as the country’s next-generation fighter.
Turkey’s current F-16s were co-produced by Tusas Aerospace Industries at a plant near Ankara in the 1980s and 1990s under two agreements with Lockheed Martin.
This time, Turkey plans to buy the new F-16 Block 50s under a U.S. government Foreign Military Sales program.
Lockheed Martin, Bethesda, Md., is the world’s largest defense firm, and its Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, manufactures the F-16 and leads the production of the nine-nation F-35.
The planned F-16 Block 50 sale to Turkey also includes 42 General Electric F-110-129 engines, radar systems, advanced friend-or-foe identification systems, AN/ALQ-178 electronic warfare system, software development/integration, spare and repair parts and maintenance, support and training services.
By UMIT ENGINSOY, WASHINGTON And BURAK EGE BEKDIL, ANKARA
DefenseNews.com , LINK
Turkey may rethink a plan to buy 30 new F-16 Block 50 fighter aircraft worth about $1.65 billion, because a delivery timetable proposed by U.S. manufacturer Lockheed Martin does not meet the Turkish Air Force’s operational capability requirements, procurement and military officials said.
“We need the F-16 deliveries to start by 2009 or 2010, but the manufacturer proposes 2014 and it’s too late,” one procurement official said.
Turkey plans to buy the Lockheed-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as its next-generation fighter, and expects to spend nearly $10.7 billion for 100 aircraft over the next 20 years. Under current plans, F-35 deliveries to Turkey should start in 2014.
As a stop-gap solution until then, Ankara last year decided to buy 30 advanced F-16 Block 50s. The U.S. Congress approved the planned sale in October, paving the way for contract negotiations between the U.S. company and the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries, Turkey’s procurement agency. But the talks face troubles.
“The idea of deliveries starting in 2014 does not meet our operational capability plans,” one senior military official said. “It would be meaningless for us to receive the F-16s at that time.”
The military and procurement officials both said that unless an agreement was reached on the timing of deliveries, Turkey might have to abandon the new F-16 plan.
Lockheed Martin officials said talks were continuing with Turkey and that the company was working to satisfy the customer.
Restrictive Export Rules
In another hitch, the Turkish military official complained over what he called serious operational restrictions the U.S. government wants to impose on the aircraft’s use by Ankara.
“The Americans don’t want us to use the fighter for a number of purposes, and we see it as kind of intervention into our national defense planning, which is discouraging,” the official said without elaborating.
Pentagon officials said the United States implements standard procedures in line with export rules and regulations, and that Washington does not discriminate against Turkey or any other ally.
The Turkish Air Force’s present inventory of fighters is exclusively of U.S. design. It operates about 215 older F-16s and more obsolete F-4Es and F-5s.
The Air Force’s desire to continue to stick to the American school was a key factor in Ankara’s decision last year to opt for the F-35 over the European-built Eurofighter Typhoon as the country’s next-generation fighter.
Turkey’s current F-16s were co-produced by Tusas Aerospace Industries at a plant near Ankara in the 1980s and 1990s under two agreements with Lockheed Martin.
This time, Turkey plans to buy the new F-16 Block 50s under a U.S. government Foreign Military Sales program.
Lockheed Martin, Bethesda, Md., is the world’s largest defense firm, and its Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, manufactures the F-16 and leads the production of the nine-nation F-35.
The planned F-16 Block 50 sale to Turkey also includes 42 General Electric F-110-129 engines, radar systems, advanced friend-or-foe identification systems, AN/ALQ-178 electronic warfare system, software development/integration, spare and repair parts and maintenance, support and training services.
By UMIT ENGINSOY, WASHINGTON And BURAK EGE BEKDIL, ANKARA
DefenseNews.com , LINK
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