US to sell Turkey Patriot missiles in $7.8 billion deal
Posted by meb at September 14th, 2009
US President Barack Obama’s administration has notified Congress of a possible $7.8 billion sale of Patriot PAC-3 antimissile batteries and related equipment to Turkey, the only NATO ally bordering Iran.
The sale would include 13 Patriot “fire units,” 72 Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles and a range of associated hardware for ground-based air defense, the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a notice made public on Friday, reported the Reuters news agency.
It estimated the cost at $7.8 billion, which would be one of the biggest US government-to-government arms sales in years and would mark the return of Turkey as a major US arms buyer.
Turkey would use the PAC-3 guided missiles to boost its missile defense capability, strengthen its homeland defense and deter regional threats, the defense agency said.
“Turkey is a partner of the United States in ensuring peace and stability in the region,” it said. “It is vital to the US national interest to assist our North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally in developing and maintaining a strong and ready self-defense capability that will contribute to an acceptable military balance in the area.”
At this stage it is unclear whether Turkey’s planned purchase of PAC 3 missiles is part of a procedure related to its ongoing international tender to acquire long-range air- and missile-defense systems (T-LORAMIDS) intended to counter both missiles and aircraft.
There is also speculation that the Turkish plan to buy US Patriots is part of the US’s missile shield program under which Turkey will be one of the sites to deter a possible missile threat from Iran, which has been accused by the international community of developing nuclear weapons.
But Turkish diplomatic sources speaking to Today’s Zaman said the purchase was part of efforts to modernize Turkey’s defense assets, dismissing any notion that it was for purposes of deterrence.
Turkey’s Undersecretariat for the Defense Industry (SSM) issued a request for proposal (RFP) quietly in mid-April for the direct purchase of T-LORAMIDS. It is envisaged that the project, valued at some $4 billion, will entail the purchase of about 12 systems.
Separately, the SSM sent a letter of request (LOR) to the US administration since possible purchase of long-range missiles from the US will take place under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) credits. Local defense industry sources told Today’s Zaman that it is highly possible that the Obama administration’s notification to Congress of the possible $7.8 billion sale to Turkey is part of the procedure for US companies to compete for Turkey’s tender.
The US administration will set a higher price on the arms purchases that will take place during the negotiations with the countries concerned, said the same sources. The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency announcement stated that the primary contractors for the Turkish sale would be Raytheon Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. The notice of a potential sale is required by law and does not mean a sale has been concluded.
That announcement falls in line with the Turkish tender since Lockheed Martin and Raytheon are teamed on the Turkish project.
The SSM issued a request for information (RFI) in March 2007 to find out the price and availability of the missile systems. US companies Lockheed Martin and Raytheon have jointly offered a combination of Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) and PAC-2 low to high-altitude SAMs purchased through US FMS credits. The China National Precision Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CPMIEC) has offered the HQ-9 (reported export designation FD-2000) air-defense system. Russia, meanwhile, has so far refrained from participating in the tender and instead offered for Turkey to start state-to-state negotiations with Moscow for the sale of missiles as a sole source.
Turkey, which asked Russia to compete in the tender with its more advanced S-400 missile systems instead of the vertically launched S-300 air-defense system, rejected the Russian offer of having direct talks without a tender. The RFPs have been issued to enable international competition in the T-LORAMIDS project. They involve, among other things, a request from the companies to offer some parts of the missiles to be produced in Turkey, said a local defense industrialist.
US sources who requested anonymity earlier told Today’s Zaman that there have not been big restrictions from the US on what Turkey wants to be produced domestically.
The SSM sent RFPs to the Lockheed Martin-Raytheon partnership and CPMIEC as well as to Russia’s Rosoboronexport, asking for them to respond by mid-July. However, Turkish sources said that the deadline for responses had been extended to the end of this year.
Missile umbrella speculation
In the meantime, the Obama administration’s notification to the US Congress for the missile sale to Turkey is also linked to a US project to build a missile shield to deter ballistic missile threats that may come from rogue states. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Iran’s leaders on July 26 that if they were seeking nuclear weapons, “your pursuit is futile,” days after she raised the possibility of a US-built “defense umbrella” over the Middle East to counter Iranian clout.
In separate notices to Congress released Friday, the Obama administration announced a potential $220 million artillery rocket sale to Jordan and a possible $187 million sale of F-16 fighter-carried weapons to Morocco.
In the case of a NATO member such as Turkey, Congress has 15 days to block a proposed arms deal by passing a joint resolution of disapproval, though it never has stopped a sale once formally notified.
The proposed supply of the equipment to Turkey, along with US logistical support, would not alter the basic military balance in the region, the notice to Congress said. This would mark the first Turkish purchase of PAC-3 missiles, it said. It would reverse a Turkish trend away from US arms purchases in recent years, said Soner Cagaptay, an expert on Turkey at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a nonpartisan research group.
Such a purchase would represent “a big consolidation of US-Turkish military ties,” he said. The Patriot PAC-3 missile would provide Turkey with some capability to defend against short-range Iranian SCUD missiles with a range of 500 kilometers to more than 800 kilometers, said Steven Hildreth, a missile-defense expert at the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
Iranian missiles are currently capable of reaching all of Turkey, Hildreth said. Turkey’s geo-strategic importance for the United States depends partly on Incirlik Air Base, located near Adana in southeastern Turkey. KC-135 refueling planes operating out of Incirlik have delivered more than 35 million gallons of fuel to US warplanes on missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the research service said in a report last year.
Carol Migdalovitz, an expert on the country at the research service, said the proposed sale showed Turkey was hedging its bets on improved ties with Iran. “While it has improved [bilateral] trade and energy ties, Turkey remains wary of Iran’s nuclear program,” she said.
source: Today’s Zaman
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