Defense industry committee expected to discuss long-range missile project

ANKARA - Reuters

Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force's anti-aircraft and ground-to-air missile systems are seen on display ahead of the 10th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, Nov. 10. REUTERS Photo

Turkey’s Defense Industry Executive Committee is expected to discuss a long-range anti-missile deal at its first 2015 meeting on Jan. 7 under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.

The main topic of the meeting will be the long-range air and anti-missile deal for which negotiations are continuing with China, the United States and Europe.

The Undersecretary of Defense Industry (SSM) said negotiations with China through CPMIEC, which won a tentative deal for the project in September 2013, were still continuing, but asked for improved offers from French-Italian Eurosam and American Raytheon and Lockheed Martin by Dec. 31, 2014.

The committee is expected to discuss which roadmap will be followed in regard to the project.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had said earlier that Turkey was talking to the French-Italian partnership and CPMIEC. Sources told Reuters in May 2014 that the Chinese firm could not fulfill the conditions properly in the tender documents and that Russia wanted to be included in the tender once more, despite being dropped after it was provisionally awarded in 2013.