Turkey retreating from controversial China defense deal

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey’s defense procurement bureaucracy and industry are increasingly showing signs of weariness over a potential $3.44 billion deal with a Chinese arms maker for the construction of the country’s first long-range air and anti-missile system, Hurriyet Daily News reports.

A senior defense official said Ankara may rethink its September 2013 decision to award the controversial contract to China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corp (CPMIEC).

“A number of new factors and parameters have emerged since last September … forcing us into a reassessment based on a broader perspective,” the official said.

According to the HDN, an industry source familiar with the program, dubbed T-LORAMIDS, said some of the Turkish companies that would be subcontracted for the air defense system are skeptical about potential corporate consequences because CPMIEC is on a U.S. list of companies that are sanctioned under the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act.

“Aselsan is especially increasingly cautious,” he said. Military electronics specialist Aselsan, Turkey’s biggest defense firm, has been designated as the program’s prime local subcontractor.

The industry source also said several unexpected technical snags had emerged during contract negotiations with CPMIEC. But he did not go into the details, citing military secrecy.

Turkey’s procurement agency, the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM), may have distanced itself from the Chinese option in recent times. “We think that the SSM now has a more NATO-centric view over the competition, not just military,” a Turkish security official dealing with NATO said.

Turkey has come under strong pressure from its NATO allies since it announced its decision over the T-LORAMIDS. Ankara said it had chosen CPMIEC’s FD-2000 missile-defense system over rival offers from Franco-Italian Eurosam SAMP/T and Raytheon of the United States. It said the decision was based on better price and better terms of technology transfer.

NATO and U.S. officials have said any Chinese-built system could not be integrated with Turkey’s joint air defense assets with NATO and the U.S. and that it may harm Turkey’s relations with the alliance.