Американцы не участвуют в новом турецком вертолетном тендере

Турция выдвинула условия предоставления трансфера технологий и гарантий от эмбарго, неприемлимые для американских компаний. В тендере остались: Россия (Камов), Италия ("Мангуста"), Еврокоптер ("Тайгер") и ЮАР ("Руивок"). Американцы намекают на политические "траблы" для турок.

US role as top Turkish arms supplier jeopardized by diplomatic, technical issues

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SELCAN HACAOĞLU
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ANKARA - The Associated Press

For the first time ever, there are no U.S. bidders for a major Turkish arms contract, signaling serious snags in one of the world's closest military-commercial partnerships.
For more than 50 years, the United States and U.S. firms have been the main arms suppliers to Turkey, a lynchpin of NATO's southern flank during the Cold War. Turkey, in a rough neighborhood that includes Iran, Iraq, Syria as well as traditional rival Greece, has also been eager to snatch up weapons to supply its large army, which is also dealing with a domestic Kurdish insurgency.
At the heart of the problems today are both diplomatic and technical issues rooted in Turkey's ambition to gain control over its military technology.
Turkey is going through a low point in defense relations with Washington following its refusal to host U.S. troops for the invasion of Iraq in 2003. It has actively sought out other potential arms suppliers, making Turkey's business less attractive for U.S. companies.
If they last, the frictions threaten to make U.S arms companies reluctant to support Turkish lobbying efforts in Washington, analysts and defense sources say.
Next week, firms from South Africa, Russia, France and Italy are competing for a $2 billion tender to deliver attack helicopters to Turkey. U.S. makers Bell Helicopter Textron, Boeing Co. and Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. did not even offer proposals after evaluating tough tender conditions.
The new bidding rules included full access to the aircraft's specific software codes -- which the United States considers a security risk -- and a written guarantee from the provider's government that there will be no political obstacles to the export of the arms. However, the U.S. government can only seek the consent of Congress for a deal after the sale is finalized.
It was not clear whether Turks would be satisfied with an initial letter from the government assuring them there would be no political problems.
"As far as Boeing is concerned, some of the conditions in the tender are such that we simply could not agree to (them), and that we felt would make the program, from a Boeing perspective, very difficult," Greg Pepin, vice president of Boeing-Turkey, said in an interview.
Pepin explained that sharing the software was problematic because it was partly owned by other U.S. suppliers as well as the U.S. government, and the other owners would likely balk at sharing the technology even if Boeing were willing.
"We can't guarantee that the U.S. government will transfer that technology, we can talk about the technology that we own but we can't agree to and sign up to assuring that these other owners of technology would do the same," Pepin said. "That was an issue we had; we simply cannot guarantee that."
Turkey imposed new bidding rules last year after it canceled a previous tender in 2004 when a deal with Bell Helicopter Textron for their "King Cobra," a Turkish version of the AH-1Z Super Cobra used by U.S. Marines, collapsed over price, technology transfer and licensing problems.
The new rules empower Turkey to substitute alternative, probably locally manufactured components such as weapon systems, the mission computer, avionics and electronic warfare suites, and require the supplier to integrate other systems or equipment built by Turkish companies.
"The collapse of one deal is not itself a major crisis, but if Turkey persists in seeking carte blanche from American suppliers to substitute its own technology for theirs and asks for impossible terms, U.S. arms suppliers will not, indeed cannot, bid for Turkey's business, and they will likely cease their lobbying efforts on Turkey's behalf with both the White House and Congress," said Ian M. Cuthbertson, an arms sales expert at the World Policy Institute. "U.S. industry will lose business and Turkey would lose powerful allies in Washington."
U.S. arms companies have been lobbying for Turkey against Armenians, who are pressing for recognition of killings of Armenians in the early 20th century as a genocide, and Kurds, who complain about Turkey's alleged human rights violations.
Turkey's concerns over technological control of its weaponry increased after it faced arms blockades from several countries because of human rights problems in its fight against autonomy-seeking Kurdish terrorists, while Washington demanded Turkish progress on human rights as a condition for arms sales.
Many Turkish defense authorities also bitterly remember a U.S. arms embargo following Turkey's invasion of Cyprus in 1974, when Libya provided Turkey with bombs and spare parts to operate its U.S.-made jets.
Today, Turkey is keen on having a sovereign helicopter to use freely, mainly against Kurdish terrorists in the rugged Southeast, without taking on the risk of outside interference in the aircraft's mission computer or of political obstacles from Washington regarding its use.
Turkey's Defense Executive Committee might opt in its next meeting on June 27 to choose among one of the current bidders from France, Italy, Russia and South Africa -- which lifted an arms embargo on Turkey in 2005 -- to end a decade-long search for Turkey's next attack helicopter.
The options are the “Tiger” from Franco-German company Eurocopter, the “Mangusta” of Italy's Agusta Aerospace, Russian company Kamov and South African company Denel's “Rooivalk.”
"If Turkey wants to have a sovereign helicopter, this is the opportunity," said an official from Likom Defense, Denel's representative in Turkey, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Ставлю на "Руивалк".

ставлю на политические "траблы" для турок.

Будут им "траблы" - не сомневайтесь :D И за курдов... И за заигрывания с евросоюзом... И за выбор поставщиков вооружений :D