Turkey Buys US Attack Helicopters

[ozgurluk at xs4all.nl]

TURKEY TO CONDUCT FLY-OFF FOR ATTACK HELO COMPETITION

By Frank Wolfe

(Defense Daily; 08/18/98)

  Aug. 18, 1998 (DEFENSE DAILY, Vol. 199, No. 98 via COMTEX) -- Turkey
is to hold a fly-off starting Sept. 14 for five bidders vying to build
145 attack helicopters for the nation.

The contract, which may be awarded next June, is potentially worth
$3.5 billion.

Turkey was to issue a short list narrowing the list of competitors
from five to two or three this month, but that has been delayed due,
in part, to changes of command, promotions and retirements in the
Turkish armed forces and the requirement to bring the new personnel up
to speed on the competition, industry sources said.

That "neck down" has been pushed back to October, or possibly
November. The Turkish military attache could not be reached yesterday
for comment.

Two U.S. firms are bidding in the competition: Bell Helicopter Textron
[TXT], which is to offer a version of its AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter
to the Turks, and Boeing [BA], which will market its AH-64D Apache
Longbow. Last December, just before the bids were due, Bell and Boeing
received State Department approval to enter the competition (Defense
Daily, Jan. 5).

U.S. officials have been concerned about the role U.S. arms have
played in Turkey's suppression of Kurdish rebels. If Turkey awards the
contract to a U.S. firm or firms, the State Department would still
have to issue an export license to finalize the sale, a State
Department official said yesterday. The House International Relations
Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee would then have
15 days to stamp their seals of approval--followed by floor votes in
both houses--for the sale to go through. But hearings could be
delayed, meaning final floor votes could also.

Bell has not yet received State Department permission to take its
two-bladed AH- 1W Super Cobra to Turkey for the fly-off. It was
unclear yesterday if Boeing had received such approval from the
government.

Bell wants to market its AH-1Z four bladed King Cobra (4BW) to Turkey.
The King Cobra is currently under development, but Bell executives
believe the aircraft will have lower life cycle costs than the Apache
Longbow. The 4BW is to double the payload of the Super Cobra and share
identical components--including avionics, transmissions and glass
cockpits--with the UH-1N (4BN) Huey utility helicopter.

Turkey already has 38 Cobras and Super Cobras, which the country has
used in its battle with separatists.

For its part, Boeing believes the Apache is the right choice for
Turkey. "It's much more advanced than anything being offered and
almost anything that's on the drawing board," said Ken Jensen, a
Boeing spokesman in Mesa, Ariz., where the company builds Apaches.

"We have the support of the U.S. Army. If they picked Apache, they
would have the Army's support behind them, including spares, training
and technical assistance, even beyond what the contractor would
provide."

If Turkey picked a Cobra version, it would have similar support from
the U.S. Marine Corps, which is flying those attack helicopters.

Some question whether Turkey needs anything as advanced as the Apache
and say the Cobra versions are significantly less expensive to
maintain. "The Apache is a great helicopter, but it's very expensive
and costly to maintain," an industry source said. The U.S. military
buys Apache Longbows for about $8 million per copy, while it can get
four-bladed King Cobras for about $6 million.

But Jensen said the Apache Longbow has been price competitive with
Cobras and Super Cobras in international competitions in the
Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

The other attack helicopters in the Turkish competition are the Tiger
by the Franco-German Eurocopter, the Mangusta by Italy's Agusta, and
the Ka-50 Havoc by Russia's Kamov. For the competition, Kamov has
partnered with Israel Aircraft Industries.

Industry and government officials familiar with the Turkish
competition expect the short-list to contain a U.S. option and a back
up foreign option should the U.S. government bar its manufacturers
from actually delivering its attack helicopters due to political
pressure from Congress.

Copyright Phillips Publishing, Inc.

{C:DefenseDaily-0818.03187}   08/18/98

-- 
Press Agency Ozgurluk
For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan!
Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org                          
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