Germany plans to sell hundreds of heavy battle tanks to Turkey in a major change of recent defense policy, two newspapers reported Oct. 12.
The sale of the Leopard II tanks is expected to take place if European Union leaders, scheduled to meet in December, decide that Turkey has undertaken enough democratic reforms to begin EU membership talks.
According to the daily Financial Times Deutschland, German Defense Minister Peter Struck plans to travel to Turkey next month to discuss Ankara’s military needs with his counterpart there, Vecdi Gonul.
The Die Welt newspaper reported that Germany’s security council -- a forum of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his defense, foreign and interior ministers -- will soon discuss the sale.
On Oct. 11, a foreign ministry spokeswoman told reporters that Germany was considering loosening restrictions it has placed on arms exports to Turkey once Ankara begins its long-awaited negotiations to join the EU.
"The question hasn’t arisen yet," the spokeswoman said at a routine government press conference, but a positive decision on Turkey’s membership by EU leaders in December "would play a decisive role."
Under German law, arms cannot be exported to countries where they might be used to aggravate domestic conflicts.
The government was prepared in 1999 to sell around 1,000 tanks to Turkey but opposition from the Greens party, the junior partners in the ruling coalition, brought the deal to an end.
The party feared the tanks might have been used against the minority Kurds. There were also doubts about whether Ankara could afford the equipment.
According to the Oct. 11 edition of the Handelsblatt newspaper, Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer -- himself a Green -- no longer supports export restrictions because they would contradict any EU recommendation that Turkey begin accession talks.
Leaders of the 25 EU countries will convene Dec. 17 to finally decide whether Turkey should start negotiations. Many are under public pressure to bar the entry of a relatively poor, predominantly Muslim country of 70 million.
The Leopard II tank is made by the Munich-based firm Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. Variations of it have been sold to Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Finland and Greece have also placed orders.
Turkey would be sold second-hand tanks rather than new ones, the press said, at an estimated value of around seven billion euros.
This message has been edited by Diunei on Nov 5, 2004 8:45 AM
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Re: Turkey to buy hundreds of Leopard tanks from Germany
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November 4 2004, 8:35 PM
I posted all these recent developments in this main forum for it to get the recognition it deserves by thr forumers here.
Turkey has been quite silent in major procurements over the past couple of years due to the financial crises in the country but due to the massive turnaround in our economy, it seems that Turkey is tyring to make up lost ground.
You must admit, the recent developments are impressive.
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“Italy unfortunately has been long excluded from the number of European powers. If Italians today are worthy of resuming their rights, someday they will see their country arise with glory among the powers of the earth.”--Napoleone Buonaparte
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The Turkish Air Force (TAF) has ordered two batteries, each of 24 systems, of the upgraded, operator-controlled HAROP (Harpy-2) attack drone from Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI). More than 100 autonomous Harpy-1s are already in service with the TAF.
The Harpy is a 135kg, delta-winged Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) fired from ground launchers for Suppression of Enemy Air Defences (SEAD). It is powered by a rotary engine driving a pusher propeller, giving a maximum speed of 185km/h and an endurance of up to six hours. After launch, the Harpy flies to a pre-programmed loiter position where it searches for electromagnetic emissions. Once a target is detected, the Harpy dives onto it, destroying the radar or Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) launcher with a blast-fragmentation warhead.
He also reminds this is the second phase of 5 defence agreements in progress with Israel this year. Turkey had bought 20 Litening pods earlier this year (with option of 20 more). The other agreements which will probably be signed soon are 50 Delilah II cruise missiles , modernisation of the remaining F-4 s in to Terminator standard (probably air to air capabilities to T I phase as well as the new ones) and 18 EO cameras for RF-4s which will also have Terminator modernisation to extend service life and avionics..
A little info about cutlass;
The joint program was initially proposed by IAI/MBT and Raytheon as "Cutlass" for Combat Uninhabited Target Locate and Strike System. Initially displayed in the Paris Air Show in 1999, the system combined the airframe of the Harpy UAV, made by Israel Aircraft Industries, with advanced sensors made by Raytheon Systems, which also manufactures the HARM (High Speed Anti-Radiation) missile. Cutlass was adapted for ship-based operations to support US Navy operations over land. It is designed for six hours missions, flying at speed of 100 knots and maximum range of 1,000 km.
Unlike the autonomous Harpy, Cutlass also has a direct line-of-sight datalink capability at range up to 150 km. This range can be extended via relays built into each weapon. Like Harpy, Cutlass primarily is a SEAD weapon, relying on a blast-fragmentation warhead, but Cutlass is different from Harpy in its semi-autonomous mode of operation. When a potential target is located, the information is data-linked to an operator in the ground station to confirm target identification and to provide positive man-in-the-loop attack permission. With different seekers, the killer drone can also be used for hunting of ballistic missile launchers, urban warfare, and attacking vehicles.
This message has been edited by Diunei on Nov 5, 2004 8:42 AM This message has been edited by Diunei on Nov 5, 2004 8:41 AM
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Under the "global fight against terror" and NATO obligations, the US Defense Department has notified congress of a $96 million sale to Turkey of 225 AIM-9X Sidewinder air-air missiles. The US Defense Department has stated that the sale would not effect the region's military balance nor hamper peace initiatives on Cyprus. The missiles will be used with the soon to be modernized F-16's.
Well looks like the details of the $3.9 billion F-16 CCIP program are slowly surfacing. Let's see what other weapons platforms will be involved.
The AIM-9X has an extremely high off-boresight capability due to its thrust vectoring capability. Note the smaller fins and canards to lower drag. It will also be able to fit inside interior weapons bays like for the F-35. It will be compatible with the JHMCS (Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System) which I believe Turkey will order 200 for its F-16's. The guidance is IIR (Imaging Infrared), and the range is also increased to an estimated 40km giving it a near beyond visual range (NBVR).
It seems Turkey is also interested in the IRIS-T, and Python-5 air-air missiles, as part of the 5 foreign weapons platforms invited to participate in the F-16 upgrade program. Also the Israeli Derby, which is the equivalent of the AIM-120 AMRAAM, may be acquired.
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Turkey is negotiating with Sikorsky Aircraft to buy more than 50 utility and naval warfare helicopters, a deal that could be worth more than $900 million, government officials and industry sources said.
If finalized, it will be the largest helicopter purchase in Turkey’s defense procurement history.
“The figure now discussed is nearly 53 platforms, including Seahawk anti-submarine warfare helicopters and other naval platforms for our Navy, and Black Hawk utility helicopters for our Army and Gendarmerie Forces,” said one Turkish procurement official. “The overall figure, as well as the number of platforms in each force category, could go up or down; nothing is finalized at this point.”
Sikorsky officials declined to comment on the status of talks, said company spokesman Bill Tuttle. Sikorsky Aircraft, Stratford, Conn., is part of United Technologies, Hartford, Conn.
The lion’s share of aircraft should go to the Navy, Turkish and U.S. industry sources said. Turkey plans to buy nine S-70B Seahawks and between four and six S-70A(N) multimission naval helicopters, a naval version of the S-70A Black Hawk utility helicopter, according to the sources.
The Army and the Gendarmerie Forces are expected to buy the remaining choppers in the form of S-70A Black Hawks. “Some Gendarmerie helicopters could be armed versions of the S-70A,” said the Turkish procurement official.
Ankara plans to finance the Seahawk part of the Sikorsky deal through the remainder of an earlier U.S. Export and Import Bank (Eximbank) loan, along with available government funds.
“We want to conclude an agreement with Sikorsky as soon as possible,” said the Turkish procurement official.
But U.S. and Turkish industry sources said this depends on the funding ability of Turkey, which wants to secure a Seahawk deal with the U.S. Eximbank loan.
The original credit line from Eximbank — worth nearly $1.3 billion and opened in 1991 to support a sale of Black Hawk utility helicopters to the Turkish Army — expired in June 2001, with a balance of $324 million unused. That portion was reactivated the next year after the Turkish Treasury issued loan guarantees for the residual.
One S-70B Seahawk costs between $30 million and more than $40 million, depending on configuration and capabilities. The S-70A Black Hawk is cheaper, around $12 million apiece, but armed versions cost more.
Turkey has done extensive helicopter business with Sikorsky Aircraft since the early 1990s. Ankara used nearly $980 million of the U.S. Eximbank loan to fund two earlier Black Hawk deals. The first contract came in 1992 for 45 Black Hawks, and Sikorsky sold a second batch of 50 S-70As under a 1999 agreement.
Turkey also purchased another eight Seahawks under a 1998 contract, financing the aircraft with its own funds. All helicopters were delivered to the Turkish Navy, but one of them crashed shortly after delivery three years ago.
The Turkish Navy deploys the S70Bs on Perry-class frigates that it leased from the United States. The S-70B is armed with Norwegian-made Penguin and U.S.-made Hellfire missiles.
In the 1990s, Turkey bought European-made utility copters. They include 20 Eurocopter AS-532 Cougars and 17 Russian Mi-19s.
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The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified the U.S. Congress last week of a possible sale to Turkey of an F-16 modernization package as well as associated equipment and services.
The package covers the modification of 104 F-16 Block 40 aircraft, 76 F-16 Block 50s and 38 F-16 Block 30s. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $3.9 billion.
The proposed sale will include the following Major Defense Equipment (MDE) items for integration and testing:
180 AN/APG-68(V)9 radars; 7 full mission trainers for upgrade/replacement; 200 Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems (JHMCS); 200 AN/AVS-9 Night Vision Goggles (NVG); 4 AGM-84H Joint Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER); 4 AGM-84 Harpoon missiles; 6 AIM-120C Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM); 4 drones (aerial targets); 1 AGM-154B Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW); 1 AGM-154A JSOW; 2 AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles; 2 CBU-103 Cluster Bomb Units with Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD); 2 CBU-105 Sensor Fused Weapon with WCMD; 1 AGM-88B High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM); 2 AN/ASQ-213 HARM Targeting System (export) (HTS(E). The proposed upgraded capabilities will include integration of the Modular Mission Computer, AN/APG-68( V)9 radar, JHMCS, AN/AVS-9, Link-16, Self-Protection Electronic Warfare Suite (SPEWS II), HTS(E), export versions of weapons available on F-16s, plus five additional foreign weapon systems: Infra-Red Improved Sidewinder-TVC (IRIS-T) (Germany) and Penguin (Norway), Python-5 (Israel), Derby (Israel), and Spice (Israel).
Also included are system integration and testing, missile modifications, software development/integration, test sets and support equipment, spare and repair parts, publications and technical data, maintenance, personnel training and training equipment, U.S. Government and contractor representatives, contractor engineering and technical support services, and other related elements of logistics support. The estimated cost is $3.888 billion.
"This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the military capabilities of Turkey and further weapon system standardization and interoperability with U.S. forces," the DSCA said.
The principal contractors will be:
BAE Advanced Systems Boeing Integrated Defense Systems Harris Corporation Government Communications Systems Division Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control Northrop-Grumman Electro-Optical Systems Northrop-Grumman Electronic Systems Raytheon Missile Systems.
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If EU rejects Turkey, then Turkey will become a Key Ally of USA.
Anyway USA would not like to see a strong EU at all, I bet US is now planning something big in Europe for the case when EU stands up to challenge US in near future.
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There would never be a war or confrontation between US and EU
They are allies and have been allies and always will be allies.
"An Invasion through Canada would become a disaster, they are the only country that does not follow their doctrine, unpredictability and innovation is what scares the russian bear" - Russian Infantry Officer shortly after the cold war
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We are bettering ourselves...one day the entire planet will be one massive military force which protects itself from itself. No enemies just unkowns.
"An Invasion through Canada would become a disaster, they are the only country that does not follow their doctrine, unpredictability and innovation is what scares the russian bear" - Russian Infantry Officer shortly after the cold war
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If the recent rash of new purchases is a sign of Turkey's economic growth being robust, then it is quite impressive indeed. That being said, does Turkey honestly need so much new equipment? Iraq wasn't even much of threat but that has been neutralised by the US and UK. I don't think the US and UK would allow two fellow Nato members, Greece and Turkey, to have a major, if any, war between them. Unless Turkey is about to antagonise Russia, I don't see the need to purchase such vast quantities, unless it is a part of modernisation and Turkey plans to de-mobolise many units as a result.
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Turks love to haggle, but they've bought almost no major weapons systems in years. Mostly because they don't have the money. They don't have the money now, either. They're just flashing play money in front of the EU nations to grease the skids before the accession talks. Won't work. Everyone knows Turkey is broke.
E Tan, E Epi Tas!
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You can go to turkey, and use the turkish lira as toilet paper, it is that bad.
Kinda sux, but hey, they really are not good with anything but military.
See they even have a hard time dealing with what they want. They want an incredibly powerful army that can attack everything and revive the ottoman empire. WEll, the Turks have a horrible logistics force.
More on that, the Turks need to concentrate on ONE THING at a time. They are buying aircraft and ships and missiles and this and that which makes for such a large area to cover making everything they buy either to small to be effective or just crap.
The Turks need to say, "Hey, we need a lot of tanks, lets get new tanks." and do that ONLY.
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