PKK’s Latest Nightmare
Officials of the Turkish General Staff accepted the delivery of the aircraft in Ankara. The intelligence-collection aircraft will be deployed in Batman and operate immediately. The arrival of the remaining 4 aircrafts is planned to be realized until September. King Air, standing out with its cameras capable to focus and distinguish even the brand of the weapon at the terrorist’s hand, will transmit the collected intelligence to network control stations through encrypted lines. These hired aircrafts are expected to cover the lack of intelligence collection until the completion of ANKA project (Turkish Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. 3 out of 5 aircrafts will stay in the air for 24 hours and fly to an altitude of 30 thousand feet (about 10.000km). The total cost of the project is 70 million $.
The government has long been concerned about the crisis with Israel and the incapacity to increase the number of simultaneous flights of Heron vehicles due to lack of network control stations. Talks held confidentially by the Turkish General Staff, National Intelligence Organization and Turkish National Police with the command of the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ERDOĞAN. The bidding was executed and kept confidential by the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries and a 70 million USD contract was signed.
Talks among the defence circles started right after the conclusion of bidding. The companies participating in the tender with "leasing"offers changed their offer and suggested the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries to purchase the aircrafts rather than hiring them due their cheaper costs. However, this proposal was declined. It was stated that the cost of a single aircraft was 7 million USD and that the 5 aircrafts would be costing 35 million USD, thus Turkey would be getting to own the aircrafts by paying half of the rental price. A defence official talking to Zaman Newspaper stated that the price did not include the intelligence systems and maintenance costs; therefore the leasing option was more reasonable. The official said: "the successful bidder will take responsibility of the maintenance costs of the aircrafts for 2 years, train 200 personnel, alter the engines and propellers and supply the equipment for collecting intelligence and backup cameras. Therefore the hiring option is more suitable than buying the aircrafts. Besides the company offering to sell the aircrafts would not be able to deliver them this summer and the General Staff desires to operate them this spring for the fight against terrorism would intensify."
Turkish National Police will also be able to use these aircrafts that are to be delivered to the Turkish Land Forces. National Intelligence Organization may also hire King Air if the project is accomplished successfully. Data transmission lines will be established in Batman for the aircrafts and through these lines the images collected by the aircrafts would be transmitted to regional bases and to Ankara.
