Babaoğlu set to diffuse military tension over F-16s
Turkish Air Forces Commander Gen. Aydoğan Babaoğlu is expected to end a dispute within the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) over whether to buy Electronic Warfare (EW) systems from US ITT or to go ahead with the EWs currently produced in Turkey under a US BAE Systems North America license in cooperation with the local Aselsan-Mikes partnership.
Snags occurred early last year when both the air force and the General Staff were divided over whether an additional 30 F-16 Block 50 fighters, purchased from US company Lockheed Martin last year, should be equipped with US ITT's IFWOS EWs or with Aselsan-Mikes-BAE-developed EWs, planned to be mounted on 58 F-16 Block 50C single-seat fighters and code-named Spews 2 Plus in 2010.
Murad Bayar, head of the Undersecretariat of the Defense Industry (SSM), accompanied by his top bureaucrats, briefed Gen. Babaoğlu yesterday on the pros and cons of installing ITT EWs or the EWs produced by the Aselsan-Mikes-BAE partnership on the 30 additional F-16s.
SSM sources have told Today's Zaman that after the briefing, it would be up to Gen. Babaoğlu to make a final decision on the systems.
Once Babaoğlu makes up his mind, the issue of whether to go ahead with the existing systems or to buy the ITT EWs will be decided by the SSM Executive Committee, the top decision-making organ of the military procurement agency.
The committee is expected to meet some time in March under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with the participation of Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt as well as Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül.
SSM Undersecretary Bayar himself has allegedly been insisting on installing Aselsan-Mikes-BAE-produced Spews 2 Plus EW systems on the additional F-16s so that partial local development of the EW program will continue, contributing to the growth of local industry, and because the systems have been effective enough as well as because they are currently being produced for the existing 58 F-16s.
In addition, those from within the military and the SSM argue that through the Aselsan-Mikes-BAE-produced EWs, Turkish control over the national software source codes of the F-16s will be higher than the US ITT systems. The US has imposed stricter policies over the past several years on technology transfers.
EW systems enable pilots to detect enemy radar, thus allowing them to escape in a timely manner. Having control on national software source codes, meanwhile, enables the country to differentiate by itself between enemy and friendly fighters.
Those who favor US ITT systems to be mounted on the additional 30 F-16s are concerned that the Aselsan-Mikes-BAE systems may not be finished in a timely manner, delaying their installation on the 30 additional F-16s.
Meanwhile, a local defense industry source has told Today's Zaman that the SSM has already paid a significant amount of money for the development of the Spews 2 EW systems and that their installation on the 30 additional F-16s too will make the project cost effective while ensuring continuation of the development program in Turkey, boosting local industry.
According to the well-informed military sources, the core of the dispute over whether US ITT systems should be installed on the 30 additional F-16s stems from the divergence of opinion within the military.
"Those who seek the installation of ITT systems instead of Spews 2 on the 30 F-16s are a group of top generals who are defying a decision made under former Air Forces Commander Ret. Gen. Cumhur Asparuk in favor of Spews 2," said the same sources.
After negotiations that stretched over several years, the SSM signed a $190.4 million deal with local Aselsan-Mikes and BAE systems North America on Jan. 16, 2003 for the co-production of EW self-protection suits to be equipped on 58C single-seat fighters.
Aselsan and Mikes' share in the project is set at $100 million, but the total project cost later increased to $228 million.
Primary contractor Aselsan-Mikes has been developing the AN/ALQ-178(V)+ airborne radar warning and jamming system (Spews 2 Plus) for 58 F-16s under the US BAE Systems North America license.