Defense giants compete in Turkish tender for long-range missiles

Behemoths of the defense industry, including Italian, Russian, French, Chinese, US and Israeli companies, are vying for the $4 billion dollar tender by which Turkey will acquire long-range missile defense systems; however, due to problems in bilateral relations, French and Israeli companies do not seem likely to win the contract.

Turkey is planning to purchase four long-range missile defense systems capable of destroying missile threats before entering Turkish airspace. As Russian and Chinese companies did not file a bid for the Turkish Long Range Air and Missile Defense System (T-LORAMIDS) tender, the dateline for bid submission was extended until Dec. 1, 2009. However, at the end of 2010, the tender has still not been completed and it will be held within the first three months of 2011. Turkey decided to acquire long-range missile defense systems in 2008, but the project was postponed due to NATO’s missile defense system project. Turkish officials thought that the country would not need another defense system if NATO installed its system in Turkey. However, during the Lisbon Summit, NATO decided only to install radar systems in Turkey so Turkey sped up its efforts to establish its own missile defense system. read full article: http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?load=detay&newsId=231336&link=231336