Turkey's defense procurement office, or the SSM � its Turkish acronym — will soon choose between a German and a South Korean tank manufacturer as foreign technology supplier for the country's national main battle tank program, a senior industry source said Monday.�After further refining our previous feasibility studies… we now have two options: Germany's Krauss Maffei Wegmann and South Korean Rotem,� Serdar Gorguc, CEO of Otokar a maker of armored vehicles and the tank program's local prime contractor, told a press conference here on Monday. �The SSM will choose between the two makers as foreign sub-contractors in the months ahead,� he said.
On March 30, the Defense Industry Executive Committee, chaired by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, awarded a contract worth approximately $500 million to Otokar to design and develop a prototype for what will be Turkey's first national main battle tank. Otokar is authorized to select its local partners, or sub-contractors, but the foreign technology supplier will be selected by the SSM in line with an assessment report to be prepared by Otokar.
Three local sub-contractors have already been selected: military-owned electronics firm Aselsan for the fire control systems; a partnership between Aselsan and STM, a software firm owned by the SSM for command, control and information systems; and state-owned ammunition producer MKEK for the cannon.
Quality tests and assessments on the prototype will be completed by the end of 2012. Manufacturing for an initial batch of 250 tanks will begin by 2013.
Otokar is Turkey's biggest exporter of defense systems, with industrial conglomerate Koc Holding owning 42 percent of its stock. In 2006 Otokar alone accounted for 30 percent of Turkey's overall defense exports. Its 2006 exports stood at $100 million. Otokar sells armored and non-armored military vehicles to 15 different countries.
Military orders in the first four months of 2007 have reached $230 million. Gorgus said that in 2006 Otokar's military sales represented 49 percent of its overall turnover, and the remaining 51 percent consisted of commercial vehicle sales. �We are keen on maintaining this balance,� he said.
Otokar boasts that the products it developed with its own know-how amount to 80 percent of the company's entire turnover.
Turkish Daily News, LINK
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