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  • Military urged to ease export license guarantee requirement (Feb. 14)

Ka-52 AlligatorAs Ankara has been witnessing fierce competition among foreign bidders competing in Turkey's $4 billion attack helicopter project, the Foreign Ministry's last-minute intervention prompted the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) to soften its stance on the export license guarantees it has been seeking from foreign competitors in its tactical reconnaissance and attack helicopter (ATAK) project. 

Instead, the Defense Industries Undersecretariat (SSM), executing the project on behalf of the TSK, wants bidders to provide strong assurances that they will receive export clearance from their governments. 

Ankara is seeking to ensure that concerns about its human rights record do not lead to the refusal of export licenses in the future. 

The Turkish Embassy in Washington wrote to Ankara, saying requiring an export license guarantee is unrealistic. Neither the German nor the U.S. governments issue export guarantee letters to their companies prior to selection, stressed foreign defense industry sources. They added that Turkey should directly contact the governments involved for export clearance rather than the companies themselves. 

On a recent official visit to the United States Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Edip Baser reportedly sought assurances from the Clinton administration that if U.S. equipment is selected, there will be no delay in receiving export clearance. 

Companies competing in the attack helicopter project have intensified their lobbying activities in Ankara since Turkey is scheduled to make a final selection most probably on Feb. 21. 

Among those lobbying is businessmen Ali Sen, who represents Russia, which is bidding in the project with an attack helicopter called the Erdogan, developed jointly with Israel. 

Sen marketed the MI-17 helicopter to Turkey in 1993. But Turkey at the time failed to request spare parts for the Russian helicopters. Pilots in the Southeast have frequently complained about the Russian helicopters because of technical failure. Now Turkey is currently negotiating with Bulgaria to provide spare parts for the helicopters. 

But the intensified pressure exerted by the bidders on the military in an attempt to win the attack helicopter tender has reportedly annoyed the Turkish military. Both Defense Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu and Chief of General Staff Gen. Huseyin Kivrikoglu have been turning down requests from bidders for appointments. 

The five short-listed competitors are Boeing's AH-64D Apache Longbow (USA); Bell Helicopter-Textron's AH-1Z King Cobra (USA); Agusta's A129-I (Italy); Eurocopter's Tiger (France); and Kamov's KA-50/52 (Russia). 

There is speculation that the SSM executive board may announce a further short-listing of two companies in a bid to negotiate a better price for the program to supply 145 helicopters. The value of the initial batch of 50 helicopters is expected to reach $2 billion. 

According to unconfirmed reports United States' King Cobra and Italy's Agusta A129-I may be short-listed, while the remaining companies could be put in reserve in the event talks with any of the two short-listed companies fail. (Turkish Daily News, Lale Sariibrahimoglu)

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