ANKARA - Defense Industry Executive Committee convened under the chairmanship of Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan today.
Projects regarding ATAK helicopters and jetfighters of the Future(JSF) are expected to be handled during the meeting at the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries(SSM) HQ with the participation of the Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, National Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul and SSM Undersecretary Murad Bayar.
In the helicopter purchasing tender with a total cost of 2 billion USD, South African company Denel and Italian firm Agusta Westland are competing with each other. Meanwhile, direct sales offer on Boeing`s Apachi model will also be evaluated.
On the other hand, cost of the "War Plane of the Future" project in which Turkey plans to purchase a total of 120 fighters, reaches nearly 2-2.5 billion USD, sources said.
Within the context of this project, Lockheed Martin`s JSF and Eurofighter`s project to be activated through English, Italian, German and Spanish partnership, is being discussed.