Turkey Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

erlen said:

This become ridiculous.S400 is inefficient system for Turkey...i hope Turkey returns from wrong decision and save money....

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erlen said:

No.....Erdogan probably confused S-400 and Eurosam...or only stupid bluff.

Kremlin Declines to Comment on Erdogan's Claim on S-400 Supplies to Turkey

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The Turkish government is interested in buying the soon-to-be-decommissioned UK helicopter carrier HMS Ocean if it is not sold to Brazil.

In a reply to a parliamentary question, the UK defense ministry confirmed that Turkey sent an expression of interest to UK about the potential sale of HMS Ocean.

HMS Ocean is currently on her final deployment as a commissioned Royal Navy ship, serving the role of NATO Standing Maritime Group 2 flagship in the Mediterranean.

HMS Ocean and her crew are expected to return their homeport at Naval Base Plymouth in December after starting their deployment in March this year.

Commissioned in October 1995, the 202-meter long HMS Ocean replaced HMS Bulwark as fleet flagship in June 2015. In her role as a helicopter carrier and amphibious assault ship, Ocean is designed to deliver troops by helicopter or by landing craft.

After her decommissioning was announced, Brazilian media reports rumored the HMS Ocean could be sold to the Brazilian Navy for a “reasonable price”. That price, according to reports, is £80 million pounds.


Second helicopter carrier for Turkey

Turkey is already building a landing helicopter dock which is based on the Spanish Navy’s (LHD) Juan Carlos I and designed by Navantia. The Turkish version of the ship will be named TCG Anadolu and have the pennant number L-408.

First steel on the ship, which will be registered as a light aircraft carrier by the Turkish Lloyd, was cut in May 2016 while delivery is scheduled for 2021.

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Dizasta1 said:

Well this is an interesting development. Turkey chose to go for both the S-400 Triumphs, as well as the Euro-SAMs. I wonder why though. Could it be to keep NATO happy?

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Jura said:

...
LOL I wonder how a Military operating both F-35s and Triumphs would fit into the world of various Analysts
I'd be at a total loss

oops now I imagined an exercise which would pitch these weapons against each other

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If Turkey moves forward with its buy of a Russian air defense system, it will not be permitted to plug into NATO technology, and further action may be forthcoming that could affect the country’s acquisition or operation of the F-35, a top Air Force official said Wednesday.

Turkey has reportedly finalized a deal with Russia for the S-400, an advanced anti-aircraft missile system. According to

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, Turkish Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli claimed that it had made an order for the missiles and further terms of the agreement were “just details now.”

If true, the development could have a drastic effect on Turkey’s military cooperation with the rest of NATO, which fears that Turkey is moving away from democratic norms and is fostering a closer relationship with powers such as Russia and China.
Heidi Grant, deputy undersecretary of the Air Force for international affairs, was unable to say exactly what course of action the United States would pursue if Turkey purchases the S-400.

“As a major NATO ally, we haven’t really looked into this yet,” she said in a Nov. 15 interview. “We’re going to have to start looking at, if they are going to go through with this, how we can be interoperable in the future. But right now, I can tell you our policies do not allow us to be interoperable with that system.”

Further complicating the issue is the planned delivery of Turkey’s first F-35s in 2018. Analysts worry that Turkey operating both the S-400 and F-35 together could compromise the jet’s security, as any data collected by the air defense system and obtained by Russia could help expose the joint strike fighter’s vulnerabilities. For a platform like the F-35, whose major strengths are its stealth and data fusion capabilities, that would be a disaster.

Grant agreed that a S-400 acquisition creates issues for Turkey’s use of the F-35.

“It’s a significant concern, not only to the United States, because we need to protect this high end technology, fifth-generation technology” but for “all of our partners and allies that have already purchased the F-35,” she said.

As far as potential actions the United States might take, Grant said the government will have to work through its options.

Grant spoke to Defense News on the floor of Dubai Air Show, where she met with companies and partner countries over the past four days. During this time, she did not have conversations with the Turkish delegation, she acknowledged.

Her comments echoed those of Gen. Petr Pavel, chairman of NATO’s military committee. In October, Pavel said that Turkey is free, as a sovereign nation, to make its own decisions in regards to military procurement, but will face “consequences” if a S-400 buy goes through.

What happens next?

Neither Grant nor Pavel have been willing to detail how the United States and NATO could respond to Turkey’s S-400 procurement, especially with regards to Turkey’s role in the F-35 program, and there’s no clear historical precedent.

Whenever the United States makes an agreement to export weapons to a foreign partner, that country is required to sign an agreement allowing the U.S. to do end-use monitoring to ensure it is not compromising sensitive technologies or information. That can include anything from a “check on how they are using the technology, who is on the same base with them [and] access that other countries may have to our high end technology,” noted Grant.

But the F-35 is not a typical program, being conceived of from the get-go as a partnership among countries that would pay to develop the jet, as well as reap the industrial benefits of building it.

Turkey is entrenched in the program on multiple levels — from the money it has spent to help design it, the more than 100 planes it plans to buy, to Turkish Aerospace Industries’ work on the center fuselage of every F-35, and the country’s role as a sustainment hub for the international joint strike fighter community. It’s not exactly clear what would happen if the United States rolls back its participation in the program.

Turkey’s industrial contributions to the F-35 are “easily replicable elsewhere” should the U.S. government decide to drop Turkey as an international partner on the program, Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst for the Teal Group, told Defense News in an interview ahead of Dubai Airshow.

“The real greater concern is just pushing a large emerging military and economic power out of NATO and into something different and not at all in Western interests,” he said. “It’s a very big deal. It’s so big that I don’t think anyone knows quite what to do with it.”

Individual members of Congress have raised concerns about the Turkish government’s recent shift from NATO, but so far have not sounded alarm bells about an S-400 acquisition. In the past, lawmakers have had difficulty implementing restrictions on the country’s acquisition of the F-35.

For instance, Rep. David Cicilline, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, tried to block sales of the F-35 to Turkey in July after Turkish security personnel attacked protesters in Washington earlier in 2017. However, the amendment ultimately died without ever getting a vote.

A growing problem

How the U.S. and NATO respond to Turkey could set precedent for how much interoperability with Russian the United States is willing to accept from partner militaries in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Saudi Arabia plans to purchase the S-400 alongside the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system built by Lockheed Martin. During a briefing at Dubai Airshow, Timothy Cahill, Lockheed’s vice president of air and missile defense systems, said that will create challenges for simultaneous use of both systems.

Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates is interested in buying the F-35, but has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Russia for collaborating on a fifth-generation fighter based on the MiG-29. That, too, could create roadblocks for a future joint strike fighter acquisition.

“They are a sovereign nation, they can choose to go with other partners,” Grant said of the UAE’s work with Russian on a fifth-gen fighter. “But I have made it very clear that it makes it a little more difficult for our partnership as a coalition because we will not be interoperable. As of right now, our current policies are, we would not be interoperable with Russian equipment.”

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Jura said:

Jul 19, 2017

now US official: If Turkey buys Russian systems, they can’t plug into NATO tech

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Equation said:

Just like they say how the HQ-9 systems was not compatible to NATO equipment.

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On Friday, the U.S. ambassador to NATO stopped short of saying that that the United States will impose sanctions on Turkey if it goes through with its purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system, but said Turkey understands “all of the ramifications” of its decisions.

Earlier this week, Turkey’s defense minister claimed to have wrapped up a deal with Russia for its S-400 anti-aircraft system, which NATO is concerned could hamper the interoperability of the alliances’ defenses, as a Russian system will not be able to be integrated with other NATO allies’ weapon systems.

But whether the move will trigger U.S. sanctions or other actions is still yet to be seen, said Amb. Kay Bailey Hutchison, the U.S. ambassador to NATO.

“Bilaterally, I don’t know if decisions have been made on that particular question, which is a valid question,” she said during a panel discussion at the Halifax Intenrnational Security Forum. “I don’t know what the answer will be on it. But Turkey is a member of NATO, they are a valuable ally, and we will continue to work though the issues that, I have to say, we have.”

Hutchison said that Turkey has explained that the country needed to quickly buy an air defense system, and that the country has assured her that the S-400 would not be connected to any other NATO weapons system. Turkey had previously considered the Patriot system made by U.S. manufacturer Raytheon, and at one time was attached to a Chinese missile system.

“Obviously it’s a great concern, there’s no doubt about it,” Hutchison said. “But on the other hand, Turkey is a very valuable ally in NATO, they have done their part. They are one of the four framework nations in Afghanistna right now and doing a very credible job. And they have answered the call every time NATO has made a call.”

Whether the United States or NATO takes action against Turkey has become a hot topic, as many countries in the alliance become more and more concerned about Erdogan’s ties to Russia and growing anti-democratic bent. However, NATO officials speaking at Halifax have tried to keep the focus on Turkey’s value to the alliance, praising the country for its counter-terrorism contributions.

Throughout her comments, Hutchison defended the rights of Turkey to make its own decision on arming itself and noted that Turkey is not the only NATO ally with which the United States has had issues.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stuck the same conciliatory tone earlier on Friday when talking about an incident that had transpired that morning, when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan withdrew about 40 troops from a NATO drill in Norway over a document from the exercise that labeled himself and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the country’s founder, as enemies.

He also publicly apologized to Turkey and met privately with Hulusi Akar, the commander of the Turkish armed forces.

“The event in Norway will not create any lasting problems, and I think it’s already, in a way, behind us,” he said at the forum.

Stoltenberg called Turkey a “key ally” for NATO because of its “its strategic geographic location” that borders Iraq and Syria as well as Russia.

Turkey’s location benefits NATO in the fight against the Islamic State, and the alliance has relied on Turkey to help stem the flow of supplies to ISIS, Stoltenberg said. The country’s Incirlik Air Base also serves as a key site from which to fly combat aircraft and drones into Syria.

However, Turkey continues to face major challenges because of its proximity to ISIS, and needs support from the rest of NATO, he added.

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Jura said:

... as if you didn't know of
Turkey
Industrial Participation

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