AFP , ANKARA: Turkey on Friday announced that it had called off three long-running multi-billion-dollar tenders for tanks, helicopters and unmanned aircraft, saying that it will seek to manufacture them at home.
No reason was given for the cancellation taken at a meeting of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul, army chief Hilmi Ozkok and defence industry officials.
“It has been decided to meet the needs of the Turkish armed forces with new models based on domestic production and original designs and by making maximum use of national resources,” said a statement issued after the meeting and carried by the Anatolia news agency.
It added that it would encourage domestic firms as well as partnerships between Turkish and foreign firms to take an interest in the projects.
The statement gave no further details, but Anatolia said the cancelled tenders amounted to nearly 11 billion dollars.
One of the tenders, worth some five billion dollars, was for the manufacture of 1,000 tanks, with four countries — Germany, France, the United States and Ukraine — vying for it.
The second tender was for the purchase of 145 attack helicopters, a project also worth five billion dollars.
In July 2000, Turkey shortlisted Bell Helicopter Textron of the United States and a consortium between Kamov of Russia and the Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI).
The third tender, worth nearly one billion dollars, involved the joint production of nine unmanned aircraft in Turkey.
