Turkey weighs up tenders for defence system
Beijing hopes to beat rival tenders from the US, Russia, France and Italy to provide Ankara arms to build domestic defence shield
Turkey is considering adopting a Chinese air defence system that is incompatible with its existing Nato-sponsored early warning architecture, in a development that has disturbed Western allies.
But the deal may become a win-win option for both Beijing and Ankara, say analysts.
Beijing has offered several enticements to encourage Ankara to buy its long-range anti-missile HQ-9 air defence system, according to Hurriyet Daily News, a leading English newspaper in Turkey.
Chief among those is a lower price than the three rival tenders. US partnership Raytheon and Lockheed Martin are offering the Patriot air defence system; Russia's Rosoboronexport its S-400; and the Italian-French consortium Eurosam their SAMP/T Aster 30 system.
In January, Turkey restructured its US$4 billion surface-to-air missile programme, dubbed T-Loramids, which had originally been constructed as an off-the-shelf purchase consisting of radar, launchers and intercept missiles. As a Nato member equipped with the US' Patriot air defence systems, Turkey has been urged by its Western allies to remove China and Russia from its bidding list for air defence projects because of differences in their systems.
But Ankara has ignored the warnings, and has publicly declared its interest in adopting the Chinese HQ-9 system.
Emre Kizikaya, an Istanbul-based political commentator, said China's proposal would help his country build up its own air defence programme. "[The US'] Patriot PAC3 systems have a shorter range to build a missile shield. And the main problem is America's unwillingness to share the knowhow and software codes," he said.