ANKARA - The Defense Industry 2004 Year Executive Committee decided Friday to cancel a tender to purchase strike helicopters.
The committee also decided to cancel existing tenders for purchase of unmanned surveillance aircrafts and for a tank-upgrading project.
The meeting of the committee was held under chairmanship of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkish General Staff Chief Gen. Hilmi Ozkok, Turkish National Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul and Turkish Defense Industry Undersecretary Murat Bayar attented the meeting that lasted four hours.
The committee said in a joint press statement issued at the end of the meeting that the committee decided to cancel existing tenders for tank- modernization, attack helicopters and unmanned surveillance aircrafts projects which could not be completed for a long time with existing models.
U.S. defence firm Textron's Bell Helicopter unit and Russia's Kamov were competing in Turkey's tender to purchase strike helicopters.
The committee also decided to form new procurement models based on domestic production and original design and maximum usage of national capabilites. It also noted that the committee decided to meet requirement of Turkish armed forces through these models, and provide facilities for local and foreigner joint initiatives and domestic firms to be more influential.
(MS-AÖ) 14.05.2004