Turkey and Indonesia near arms agreements
Turkey and Indonesia are close to signing several defense agreements altogether worth $400 million, procurement officials and industry sources said Tuesday.
Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world, and Turkey have increasingly closer political relations, and their industrial ties also are boosting. The two countries decided to bolster their defense cooperation when President Abdullah Gül visited Jakarta in April as a guest of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, when the two nations signed a defense industry pact.
Later, major defense industry companies from both nations met multiple times to explore potential areas of cooperation. They decided to work together in military electronics, rockets and armored vehicles.
As a result, Aselsan, Turkey’s military electronics powerhouse, and its Indonesian counterparts agreed on Aselsan’s production of several types of military radios and other wireless equipment for the Indonesian military. Roketsan, Turkey’s state-owned rocket maker, reached a general agreement to produce various short-range rockets for the Indonesians.
Meanwhile, private Turkish vehicle-maker FNSS agreed to develop a 6X6 wheeled tactical vehicle for the Indonesians. FNSS already is the maker of 6X6 and 8X8 Pars armored vehicles. Under the agreement with Indonesia, FNSS will modify the Pars 6X6 and then the two sides jointly will manufacture it.
The Aselsan deal is expected to be signed before the year ends, industry sources told the Hürriyet Daily News. Roketsan and the FNSS deals are expected to be closed in 2012. The Aselsan agreement should exceed $100 million, and the two other deals are expected to cost around $150 million both.
Separately, a team of German and Turkish companies and Turkey’s procurement agency are seeking to jointly sell two HDW-class Type-209 submarines to Indonesia’s navy. They are competing against South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine.
Turkey and Indonesia near arms agreements | TR Defence
