17.01.2005, 14:35
ANKARA: Turkey is set to launch a new tender to buy 50 attack helicopters for its army in February, but is planning to task domestic firms with the manufacture of key electronic components to avoid dependence on foreign technology, officials told Anatolia news agency Sunday. The project is estimated to be worth between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, Anatolia reported, quoting unnamed sources from the country's defense industries agency.
In May, Ankara scrapped a tender for the purchase of the helicopters, along with tenders for the manufacture of 1,000 tanks and nine unmanned aircraft, saying it had decided to meet the army's needs "with new models based on domestic production ... by making maximum use of national resources." The government is now planning to invite bidders to the new tender in February, and to determine the winner by the end of the year, Anatolia said. A defense industry official, however, said that the manufacture of the helicopters' navigation and electronic warfare systems would be awarded to a local company. "If you cannot manufacture the navigation and electronic warfare systems, if the key to them is not yours, you become dependent on those from whom you buy and they impose some restrictions on you," the official told Anatolia. Turkey had short listed Bell Helicopter Textron of the United States and a consortium between Kamov of Russia and the Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI) in the previous tender before it was cancelled. In a visit to Turkey last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin lobbied Ankara to buy the helicopter of the Russian-Israeli joint venture
In May, Ankara scrapped a tender for the purchase of the helicopters, along with tenders for the manufacture of 1,000 tanks and nine unmanned aircraft, saying it had decided to meet the army's needs "with new models based on domestic production ... by making maximum use of national resources." The government is now planning to invite bidders to the new tender in February, and to determine the winner by the end of the year, Anatolia said. A defense industry official, however, said that the manufacture of the helicopters' navigation and electronic warfare systems would be awarded to a local company. "If you cannot manufacture the navigation and electronic warfare systems, if the key to them is not yours, you become dependent on those from whom you buy and they impose some restrictions on you," the official told Anatolia. Turkey had short listed Bell Helicopter Textron of the United States and a consortium between Kamov of Russia and the Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI) in the previous tender before it was cancelled. In a visit to Turkey last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin lobbied Ankara to buy the helicopter of the Russian-Israeli joint venture