A Turkish military delegation is expected to leave for Israel later this month or in early April to discuss the possibility of Turkish involvement in the U.S.-Israeli Arrow 2 anti-tactical ballistic missile (ATBM) system. Despite press reports that the United States has given the green light for Turkish participation in the further production of Arrow missiles, as of yet there has been no official sign from Washington that it has agreed to this.

One Israeli source close to the issue speaking with the Turkish Daily News confirmed that there has been no official go-ahead for Turkey's participation in the program but also said that discussions between Turkey and Israel are continuing on the issue. During its visit to Israel, the Turkish delegation plans to work out with Israel, among other things, details concerning what kind of technology and production share that Turkey would assume in the program.

The Arrow program, five years behind schedule and with a price tag of $2 billion, is being 60 percent funded by the United States. Thus any country interested in the program needs to get approval from both the United States and Israel for its sale as well as a technology cooperation agreement for joint production. As reported by Jane's Defence Weekly in its latest issue, Israel became the only pro-Western country with an operational anti-missile defense system after it declared the first Arrow 2 battery operational two weeks ago.

The Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) Arrow system is the first of three that will be deployed around Israel to protect it against missile threats, said the magazine. One Turkish source added that after an agreement is reached on what kind of technology Israel could agree to transfer to Turkey on Arrow production, the second stage, which requires a U.S. approval process, could then begin.

The U.S. sources recalled that there are three steps required for Israel to get permission for third-country sale of the missiles. According to the procedure, Israel's IAI should first establish a marketing partnership for the Arrow with a U.S. company, and secondly IAI's partner should obtain a marketing license for the Arrows from the U.S. State Department. Once IAI's U.S. partner obtains that license, it has to apply for permission for the third-country Arrow sale. IAI is currently been negotiating with the three leading U.S. companies, namely Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, to establish a marketing partnership for the Arrow. As reported by Jane's, Israel wants to reduce the cost of deployment and further development by selling the anti-missile system to other countries. Many countries have expressed interest, including the United Kingdom, Turkey, Japan and India.

Turkey has been on a quest to acquire anti-ballistic missile systems to establish an effective deterrence against the ballistic missile threats that its immediate eastern and southeastern neighbors pose. A Turkish source said that Turkish military prefers the Arrow to the PAC3 (the latest version of Patriot missiles) since the Arrow has more advanced technology. Rather than simply buying Arrow systems, Turkey wants to take part in their co-production in order to establish an certain infrastructure on anti-ballistic missile technology.

If the United States granted Turkey permission to obtain the Arrow 2 system, Ankara would be willing to buy up to 30 batteries of the system. Establishing even a very limited Arrow missile shield in Turkey will cost Ankara at least $5 billion. Also, Turkey's desire for technology aid does not appear satisfied by the financial help the United States extended in establishing a simulation center at Middle East Technical University (METU/ODTU). Instead, Ankara now wants Washington to be more cooperative in transferring Arrow missile technology to Turkey. A Turkish delegation was in the United States in late January this year to take part in a simulated-theater missile defense exercise under the auspices of the U.S.-Turkish bilateral working group on theater missile defense.