The First Maritime Surveillance Aircraft was Delivered to Turkish Coast Guard
The first of three maritime surveillance aircraft under the Meltem II programme was delivered to Turkish Coast Guard at TAI facilities. This aircraft will be operated by the Turkish Coast Guard from Izmir Air Base.
The Minister of Internal Affairs İdris Naim Şahin, Undersecretary for Defence Industries Murad Bayar, Coast Guard Commander Rear Admiral Hasan Uşaklıoğlu, French Ambassador to Ankara Laurent Bili, Thales Senior Vice President Pierre Eric Pommellet, officials from Undersecretary for Defence Industries, TAI, Havelsan and MilSOFT and many other distinguished guests attended the ceremony held at TAI facilities.
At his speech delivered at the ceremony, Minister of Internal Affairs İdris Naim Şahin stated that the surveillance of coasts within 120 nautical miles, nearly 200 kilometres can be performed easily by these aircrafts. "Thanks to the advanced systems equipped on these aircrafts, any and all illegal actions like smuggling, illicit fishing and marine pollution/contamination can be instantly viewed and transferred to command control centre" said Şahin.
Undersecretary for Defence Industries Murad Bayar also delivered a speech and said the delivery of surveillance aircrafts was initiated after a long and challenging process. He made a brief explanation on Meltem II programme and said the project is carried out with Thales - the prime contractor - and consists of total 9 maritime surveillance and patrol aircrafts. Bayar stated that 6 of the aircrafts are to be delivered to Naval Forces Command and the remaining 3 to Coast Guard Command and added that the second and third aircrafts are to be delivered to Coast Guard Command in January and February. Bayar remarked that the aviation capabilities of the Coast Guard Command shall be enhanced by this way in a short period of time. "Although Thales is the prime contractor, the majority of work is carried out in Turkey and all modifications to aircrafts are performed at TAI. 37% local contribution share is achieved." added Bayar.
TAI Chairman of the Board Yalçın Kaya stated at his speech that Meltem-II Project, which was initiated in 2002, is executed with Thales - the prime contractor – for meeting maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft needs of Naval Forces Command and Coast Guard Command. "We are pleased to see that CN235 light transport aircrafts have gained capabilities through modifications to perform reconnaissance, surveillance and patrolling; control and prevention of maritime pollution; detection and prevention of smuggling and when necessary research-rescue activities." said Yalçın.
At his speech, Thales Senior Vice President Pierre Eric Pommellet also emphasized that the aircrafts delivered and to be delivered within the scope of Meltem-II Project are of great importance for Turkish coastal security and added that the delivered aircraft was subjected to 170 hour flight test before delivery. "We are delivering an aircraft to the Coast Guard Command which is equipped with state-of-the-art technologic solutions. More than 6000 parts/items of the aircraft were modified/renewed." said Pommellet. Pommellet also stated that the Turkish defence industry is like the base of European defence industry and that they, as Thales, want to establish partnerships with Turkish companies.
Meltem-II Programme
Turkey initiated Meltem-II Project in order to add Maritime Patrol and Maritime Surveillance abilities to 9 CN-235-100M platforms supplied under Meltem-I Project.
Thales is the prime contractor for the Meltem II programme, which calls for the delivery of six maritime patrol aircraft for the Turkish Navy and three maritime surveillance aircraft for the Turkish Coast Guard, all based on modified CASA CN-235 platforms. The programme also includes the provision of additional maritime patrol systems to the Turkish Navy, to be integrated on ATR 72 aircraft. All mission systems are based on Thales’s AMASCOS solution (Airborne Maritime Situation & Control System).
This marks the delivery of the first maritime surveillance aircraft equipped with the Thales AMASCOS mission system, which will provide the Turkish Coast Guards with an enhanced capability to better monitor the Turkish Exclusive Economic Zone and Territorial Waters.
This maritime surveillance aircraft is designed to perform a broad spectrum of missions including:
Surface Surveillance and Naval control, anti-drug and other types of smuggling operations, the prevention of illegal immigration and illicit fishing
Maritime pollution surveillance, with the provision of enhanced evidence collection capabilities, essential to this kind of operation
Search and rescue operations.
