Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Feb 6 2010
European manufacturer to enter Turkish missile tender
The French and Italian consortium Eurosam has decided to bid in
Turkey’s multibillion-dollar long-range missile tender.
Murad Bayar, from the Turkish Undersecretariat for the Defense
Industry (SSM), told the media early this week that Eurosam is to
offer its Aster 30 model for the missile tender.
Turkey agreed to allow Eurosam to bid in the project after France’s
intense lobbying activities convinced Ankara to soften its
restrictions on French defense firms over Paris’ recognition of events
that took place in 1915 under the Ottoman Empire as genocide of
Armenians, a claim that Turkey denies.
Turkey is holding a competitive tender instead of negotiating with a
single company as a sole supplier. Thus it has extended its deadline
for responses to the request for proposals for its long-range air and
missile defense systems (T-LORAMIDS) acquisition project from Jan. 15
to March 1 to enable more companies to bid. The extension of the
deadline for the proposals was made to allow Eurosam and a
Russia-based group to prepare their bids for the $4.5 billion project.
Russia is expected to offer its advanced S 300 missile systems instead
of its S 400s. Turkey had wanted Russia to bid with its S 400s, but
Russia has convinced Turkey to accept an advanced version of the S
300s. In the meantime, reports that Russia has agreed to compete in
the tender, after abandoning its earlier offer to conduct exclusive
state-to-state negotiations with Turkey, have come following several
visits by Bayar to the country.
Turkey earlier extended the deadline for T-LORAMIDS proposals from
Dec. 1 of last year to Jan. 15 before extending it to March 1.
Meanwhile, a source from the Ankara office of the China National
Precision Machinery Import-Export Corporation (CPMIEC) denied reports
that the company declined to bid in the project after seeking
exclusive state-to-state negotiations. At the time of the SSM’s first
deadline extension, CPMIEC was unable to bid, the same source said,
adding that the Chinese company will bid in the project by the revised
deadline. CPMIEC is to offer the HQ-9 (whose reported export
designation is FD-2000).
A US team of Lockheed Martin and Raytheon had already submitted its
proposals in December of last year. The two companies have jointly
offered a combination of Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) and
PAC-2 low to high-altitude surface-to-air (SAM) missiles through the
US Foreign Military Sales Program.
The Turkish military has put the price of its tender relating to the
acquisition of T-LORAMIDS at $1 billion, covering the purchase of four
batteries. However, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin have put the cost of
providing 12 fire units at $4.5 billion.
Turkey may sign a contract with the winner in the T-LORAMIDS project
tender in the spring of next year after making a selection later this
year. After the signature of the contract, delivery of the systems is
required to take place within two-and-a-half years’ time.
06 February 2010, Saturday
TODAY’S ZAMAN ANKARA