Agenda in Mind, Turkish Delegation Attends the Farnborough Air show
Prof. İsmail Demir, head of the Turkish Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (SSM) and Latif Aral Aliş, The Chairman of Defence and Aerospace Industry Exporters Association of Turkey, attended the Farnborough International Air show held in London between the dates of 14 and 20 July 2014, accompanied by a delegation from Turkey. This was their first official visit to Farnborough for both Prof.Demir and Mr.Aliş. During their two-day visit, the undersecretary and his contingent met with international aviation and defence firms concerning such topics as the Turkish F-X program, jet engine procurement, the Turkish long-range air and missile defence program and the utility helicopter program.
As part of his Farmborough schedule, undersecretary prof.Demir visited BAE Systems’ hospitality chalet and received information from the company representatives and test pilots on BAE Systems’ simulation technologies, its Q-Sight helmet-mounted displays and the Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer aircraft, which the BAE Systems is proposing for use in the Turkish T-X program. Prof.Demir also boarded the company’s Hawk trainer aircraft on display and experienced the inside of its cockpit firsthand.
The Turkish delegation later visited the chalet of Thales UK. Undersecretary Prof.Demir examined the Diamond Airborne Sensing’s Diamond DA42 MPP (Multi Purpose Platform) “Guardian” model, a light aircraft for reconnaissance incorporating ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) solutions from Thales UK’s Air Group. Prof.Demir was also briefed on the Avionics 2020 new generation future cockpit, unveiled recently by Thales UK, and a demonstration of the system was carried out. Undersecretary Prof.Demir also received information from Thales UK officials regarding the company’s Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM).
As part of his intensive two-day visit, Undersecretary Prof.Demir met with representatives of MBDA Missile Systems regarding T LORAMIDS (Turkish Long Range Air and Missile Defence System), a topic that has been in the headlines for some time. Prof.Demir also held meetings with both Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky concerning the Turkish Utility Helicopter Program. Prof. Demir met with Bernhard Gerwert, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space, regarding possible future opportunities for business cooperation, and with Hakan Buskhe, president and CEO of SAAB AB, concerning cooperation opportunities, particularly with respect to the Turkish F-X program. The undersecretary also met with representatives from the Rolls-Royce and Honeywell firms. During his two-day attendance at the air show, Undersecretary Prof.Demir also made a visit to the TAI (Turkish Aerospace Industries) hospitality chalet, and along with TAI representatives, observed the T129 Atak helicopter’s demo flight.
Undersecretary Prof. Demir: “Our First Priority for the F-X Program will be Platform Selection”
Defence Turkey Magazine met exclusively with Undersecretary Prof. Demir where he reviewed for us his visit to the Farnborough air show and the meetings he held there. Prof.Demir mentioned that at the air show, he and his staff have probed cooperation opportunities with several international firms. He said: “As the office of the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries, we are currently pursuing more than 300 projects. Invariably, each project has one or more links to international companies. As I have stated before, Turkey is no longer a country to which you can execute a direct and simple sale. Turkey is now a country where things are designed and produced; I hope this is clear by now. Of course, it is important how clearly this is understood. What we need to focus on here is the percentage of the opportunities for cooperative efforts that we are able to realize, and how much we, as a country, are contributing to the joint efforts and advancing our capabilities. If we can accomplish all of this, then Turkey will emerge as an alluring player in the world marketplace.”
Undersecretary Prof. Demir also gave an important statement to Defence Turkey relating to the F-X program that is on SSM’s agenda. He said that the possible options available regarding engine selection for the Turkish F-X program have been more or less identified, and that at the Air show, the companies who have been involved in negotiations so far had expressed interest in participating in the program. He added: “Of course, the program needs to be further developed and its details need to be ironed out. These things take time, and at the meetings we held at the air show, we did not get deep into the details, as we think this would have been somewhat premature at this time. Before anything else, we need to make a decision on the type of aircraft we are interested in. Then, based on our selection of the platform, there will really be only one or two choices left for the engine component. Therefore, based on our platform choice, the alternatives for the engine should also begin to take shape accordingly.”
