Turkey to extend deadline to send revised offers for purchase air defense missile system 3001142

Turkey announced its decision to negotiate with China’s Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp. (CPMIEC) to co-produce anti-ballistic missile system last September. It then extended the deadline to Jan. 31, after firm statements from NATO and U.S. officials that the Chinese FD-2000’s (the export version of Chinese-made HQ-9) would not be interoperable with the NATO defense architecture. Turkish leaders said the deal had yet to be finalized, and that Ankara remained open to new offers from the other two bidders.

Officials from Eurosam (France) and Raytheon (United States) are in contact with the Turkish Undersecretariat for Defense Industries from time to time, but offers from any bidders will only be examined if contract negotiations with the Chinese company fail before April 30, a Turkish official familiar with the process told the Hürriyet Daily News.

The issue is expected to be on the agenda of talks during President Abdullah Gül’s visit to Italy, the official also said.

In September 2013, Turkey has announced that the Chinese Company CPMIEC was selected to co-produce a $4 billion long-range air and missile defense system.

The winning Chinese FD-2000 system beat out the U.S. Patriot, Russian S-400, and French-Italian Eurosam Samp-T to win the contract.

The HQ-9 (FD-2000 export version) is China’s new generation medium- to long-range, active radar homing air defence missile. The most basic formation of a HQ-9 batteries consisted of one Type 305B search radar, one tracking radar, one 200kW Diesel generator truck, and eight Transporter erector launchers (TELs) each with 8 missiles, totaling 32 rounds ready to fire. The HQ-9 is a two-stage missile.