TDN with wire dispatches

The contract for a tactical attack helicopter project of the Land Forces will officially come into effect     tomorrow, with the event marked at the Turkish Aviation Industry, or TUŞAŞ, facilities in Ankara.

The ceremony, which will celebrate the beginning of the project to build 90 attack helicopters by TUŞAŞ and Italian-British AgustaWestland, is expected to be attended by Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdoğan and Defense Minister Vecdi Gonül.

The programming and the hardware will be locally produced. The helicopter to be produced is a Turkish version of AgustaWestland's A129 Mangusta International model. Two leading U.S. attack helicopter manufacturers, Boeing, maker of the U.S. Army's AH-64D Longbow; and Bell Helicopter Textron, maker of the U.S. Marine Command's AH-1Z, could not bid for the Turkish tender, because they were unable to meet the Undersecretariat of Defense Industry's, or SSM, entry conditions.

The AgustaWestland-led group should now develop, build and test prototypes, and deliver the first gunship to the Turkish Army in 2012. But although the contracts have already been signed, there is an on­going uncertainty over the platform's engine, industry sources said. Turkey originally launched its long-delayed attack helicopter program in the mid-1990s, and selected Bell Helicopter Textron's AH-1Z in 2000. But contract talks collapsed in 2005 because of unresolved disputes on price and technology transfer matters.

Turkey's defense industry is growing more confident in its ability to work closely with foreign heavyweight companies in the worlds arms market, the head of a Turkish company in the sector told the Turkish Daily News in an exclusive interview.

   The future of the defense sector in Turkey is bright thanks to a combination of advantages Turkey enjoys in human skills, the benefits of being a newcomer to the global market and a determination on the part of state institutions to create growth impetus for domestic companies, said İsmail Başyiğit, the founder and CEO of Milsoft, Turkey's leading defense software company whose annual sales reached $30 million last year.

  The days that Turkey used to simply purchase weapons systems are over, he said. Foreign defense companies can only hope to enter the Turkish arms market by forming research and development (R&D) partnerships with Turkish counterparts, said Başyiğit.

  “Let me make this clear: Turkey is capable of developing its own technologies and never intends to get hold of technologies produced by others. Our desire is to participate in the manufacturing of joint defense systems with nationally developed technologies and sell them to third parties, together with foreign partners,” said Başyiğit. Turkish exports already cover a wide range of countries from Netherlands to the United Arab Emirates, from Pakistan to the United States, with a total value that reached $350 million in 2006 according to figures of Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM).

  Integration with the West is of utmost importance for Turkey's defense industry, said Başyiğit. “It will never be economically feasible for us to undertake some projects. But using our own capabilities within those projects is the right policy to follow,” he said.

  “No matter how much Western companies lobby, no matter how hard they try, Turkey will only choose partnership models that will enable it to undertake further modifications, maintenance and developments without reliance on foreign expertise,” he said.

  His ambitions are matched by policies of SSM, established in 1985 to create a modern arms industry in Turkey. SSM is resolute in its goal of boosting domestic share of the Turkish military's procurement to 50 percent in 2010. Current domestic procurement level meets 35 to 40 percent of the military's demand, and is deemed “insufficient” in the “2008 Roadmap for Defense Research and Development” document released in January. According to data from SSM, the total production value in the Turkish armament industry reached $1.7 billion in 2006.