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Lockheed dispute clouds Turkey’s F-35 commitment
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/147567/lockheed-dispute-clouds-turkey-s-f-35-commitment.htmlLockheed dispute clouds Turkey’s F-35 commitment
26 February 2013
Turkey has been one of the keenest partners in the multinational Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) consortium, but major disputes with the leading manufacturer in this huge program have weakened Turkish enthusiasm.
Last month, Turkey’s defense procurement authorities announced they were postponing an order to purchase the country’s first two F-35 fighter jets to be built by the JSF partnership. They cited “rising costs and technological failures” for their decision.
“Due to the current state of the JSF... and the rising cost ... it was decided to postpone the order placed on Jan. 5, 2012, for the two aircraft,” the undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM) said. It was also said that the decision was taken because the technical capabilities of the aircraft were “not at the desired level yet.” But Turkey still intended to buy 100 more F-35s in the long run.
Privately, procurement officials admit there was a “certain degree of psychological deliberation at work too.” By that they meant a “bandwagon effect,” which had added Turkey to a list of skeptical partners.