Turkey Relations with BAE Systems Go Back a Long Way

Defence Turkey: First of all could you please inform us about BAE Systems’ expertise in aircraft platform manufacturing?

BAE Systems and its predecessor companies such as Avro, Bristol, Supermarine, Hawker and De Havilland have been involved with designing, manufacturing and supporting military aircraft since they first entered service just over 100 years ago. 

Some of the earliest types produced were also supplied to the Turkish Armed Forces, such as the Bristol Prier Monoplane in 1912.  Programmes have included such famous aircraft as the Hawker Hurricane, Supermarine Spitfire, De Havilland Mosquito and Bristol Beaufighter - all of which saw operational service with the Turkish Air Force. Our commercial aircraft business, which is now part of MAI, also had a long history of designing and manufacturing aircraft used by Turkish Airlines, examples being the De Havilland Domine/Dragon Rapide and Devon.  

They also designed and built the world’s first turboprop - the Vickers Viscount, used by both the Air Force and Airlines.  The final civil aircraft type designed and built by our commercial aircraft business was the Regional Jet (RJ) family, which was operated by Turkish Airlines until April 2013.   

BAE Systems is of course also very well known for developing the only successful supersonic commercial aircraft, Concorde, in collaboration with Sud Aviation.

In the field of military aircraft, we were responsible for the Harrier and AV8 – the Vertical Short Take-Off and Landing combat aircraft used in UK, USA, Italy Spain and India primarily in operation from aircraft carriers. Development of the Harrier into the AV-8B version was undertaken with McDonnell Douglas in the US, who BAE Systems also worked with to develop the Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer into a version suitable for take-off and landing from aircraft carriers, the T-45 Goshawk.  We also designed, manufactured and supported the majority of front line aircraft operated by the UK Royal Air Force including English Electric Canberra, Hawker Hunter, English Electric Lightning and Panavia Tornado.The last of these being an early example of pan-European co-operation, leading to a production run of nearly 1,000 aircraft, including export sales.

As military aircraft have developed and become increasingly capable and sophisticated, BAE Systems has also developed its approach to these combat air systems. 

Fighter aircraft programmes are now delivered through a comprehensive Integrated Engineering Capability that supports complex systems engineering through all phases of the product life cycle from concept though design and manufacture and into the in-service support phase.

Most recently, these fighter programmes have been delivered through collaboration and industrial partnerships with an increasing number of partners around the World. 

Defence Turkey: Could you please enlighten us about the core capabilities and aircraft platform programmes of BAE?

BAE Systems continues to build on its position as one of the world’s largest, and most geographically diverse, defence companies.  

The Group operates across a number of key markets, with some 84,600 employees spread across six continents. 

The Group serves defence customers across the air, land and maritime domains.  Alongside its established defence related activities, BAE Systems has a growing position in national security with a focus on information-based intelligence capabilities.

Our aircraft platform programmes are part of the Military Air and Information business that I am part of. Our core capabilities include programmes for the production of Typhoon combat and Hawk training aircraft, F-35 Lighting II fuselage and empennage manufacture, support for Typhoon, Tornado and Hawk aircraft, and development of next-generation Unmanned Air Systems and defence information systems, such as the Falcon secure deployable communication system.

This business currently employs around 13,400 people, organised as three ‘lines of business’ - Combat Air, F-35 (separated from our Typhoon business) and Defence Information, Training & Services. We currently operate from 26 sites in the UK including a growing presence on RAF bases where we work alongside our customer, and also have people based in Germany with Eurofighter GmbH and in the US working on the F-35 programme.

Defence Turkey: Could you please inform us about  R&D activities?

As well as delivering world-class products and services to customers around the globe now, we are also developing products and services to meet the needs of our customers in the future. These products might be manned or unmanned and used anything up to 30 years in the future

We are developing future materials and manufacturing techniques to allow for rapid manufacturing and use innovative composite materials that will monitor and enhance performance. This includes the research and development by our Advanced Technology Centres of ‘smart skins’ which cover the airframe packed with embedded sensors and systems and even ‘self-aware’ composite materials that could detect damage.

Future platforms will also need to be designed to rapidly and affordably operate with a number of weapons, and accommodate changes to weapons fits throughout the aircraft life. We are developing technologies which will reduce the time and cost of integrating such weapons onto both current and future platforms. 

Defence Turkey: How do you assess your international co-operation in different regions?

Many of our programmes are now delivered through international collaboration and BAE Systems has a rich history of successful involvement in such programmes. 

This has been gained over many years and, in the case of combat aircraft, began in the 1960s in collaboration within Europe. This dates back to the signing of Anglo-French co-development on the Jaguar.

This was followed by the three-nation Panavia Tornado programme involving Germany, Italy and UK, and most recently with the Eurofighter Typhoon programme which added Spain to the Panavia partner nations.

We also worked in Europe on Sweden’s Gripen programme, initially designing and producing a composite wing for the Gripen. 

This later developed into a broader arrangement where BAE Systems’ experience in the export market was harnessed to successfully launch Gripen into the export market. 

Whilst working with our European partners, we also collaborate with the US (and seven other nations, including Turkey) on the F-35 programme where UK is a Level 1 Partner. 

We also work with Boeing on the T-45 Goshawk programme which was developed to meet the US Navy’s requirement, with a solution based around the BAE Systems Hawk training aircraft.

The international success of Hawk in the global training market has also involved significant industrial collaboration with nations such as Australia, South Africa and India where our industrial partners in those countries have built their aircraft under licence and have the intellectual property rights required to fully support, modify and upgrade their aircraft to meet their evolving requirements.

Defence Turkey: Could you please inform us about your cooperation and plan in Turkey?

BAE Systems has a growing presence in Turkey, most notably through the FNSS joint venture with Nurol in the land domain but also through our supply of various equipments such as Head Up Displays on the Turkish Air Force’s fleet of F-16s.

Turkey’s aspirations for indigenous defence capability make this an exciting market for BAE Systems particularly the opportunities that are emerging around your indigenous fighter (TF-X) and trainer (T-X). We continue to work with the SSM and Turkish air sector primes to position BAE Systems as a partner of choice for future air-sector programmes.

Defence Turkey: Would you like to add a message for our readers?

These are exciting times for the Turkish aerospace industry and BAE Systems. Turkey’s requirements and plans are based on strong national fundamentals including a commitment to forming long-term partnerships with leading global companies. This approach fits well with BAE Systems’ philosophy and experience gained from developing similar long-terms partnerships in other parts of the world. I am looking forward to working with Turkey to identify how BAE Systems’ unique combination of capability and experience in international collaboration can best be deployed to successfully meet Turkey’s aspirations.