Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro
Turkey
missile
and Israel to
project
cooperate
de la Prensa-Basm Özeti
on new
• Details of the enormous new project will be discussed during the upcoming visit of a Turkish
delegation to Israel next month
Metehan Demir
20 April, 1998, Copyright (Ç) Turkish Daily News
Ankara - In an unexpected development, Turkey and Israel have decided to work on a new joint project to
produce medium-range defensive ~ssiles afte~ the Unite? S,tates looked askance a~earl~e.rTel Avi~-An~ara
plans to include Turkey in the Amencan-IsraelI Arrow lTIlsslledevelopment, a semor mIlItary OffiCIalSaId.
"During the recent Turkish-Israeli annual defense meeting held in Ankara at the end March, Israeli defense
officials told us that the United States was deeply disturbed upon hearing of plans including Turkey in the
Arrow missile development," said the military official.
"Therefore, Israel and Turkey decided to work on a new project which would be similar to the Arrow
missile, which would have a range of approximately 150 kilometers, but its name and specifications would
be different," he said.
The details of the enormous new project will be discussed during the upcoming visit of a Turkish
delegation to Israel next month. Turkey has suffered from a lack of such defensive missiles in its arsenal,
and concerns have been raised following Iran and Syria's efforts to increase their missile capacities,
believed to be targeting Turkey and Israel.
Earlier. there had been Turkish-Israeli plans that envisaged involving Ankara in the Arrow missile program
being developed by Israel and the United States. But Washington has long been keeping Turkey on a list of
countries under the Missile Control Regime Systems concept which closes acquisition avenues to certain
countries interested in buying missiles from European countries and the United States.
In March, a group of 30 Israeli defense officials visited Turkey to increase current defense industry
cooperation between the two countries, the third annual gathering of key defense officials from both sides.
The Arrow missiles were one of the key issues discussed during the meeting.
Meanwhile, the recent cooperation between Turkey and Israel has drawn the reproach of Middle Eastern
countries like Egypt, Iran and Syria, who claim that this partnership is seriously damaging the strategic
balance of power in the region.
Israel is currently upgrading 54 Turkish F-4 Phantoms in a deal worth $632 million and recently won a bid
to upgrade 48 Turkish F-5s Tigers for $80 million. Israel also sold night-vision systems to Turkey last
year.
In an earlier missile project, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding for the joint
production of hundreds of Popeye II missiles. The final agreement, which is expected to be concluded
soon, will set production conditions for the 150-kilometer-range Popeye II missile. This is the advanced
version of the Popeye I which is currently being used on F-16's and F-4's. MIKES will produce data-links
for the Popeye II missiles, while another Turkish firm, Roketsan, will produce the ignition system and
components. Israel's Rafael is to provide the technology.
Turkeyalso earlier decided to buy 200 Popeye I missiles from Israel, the deliveries of which started at the
end of last year.
The defense links between Turkey and Israel were launched with a military training cooperation agreement
signed in February, 1996. The second agreement came in August, 1996 with a defense industry
cooperation deal. The military training accord involved reciprocal naval visits, the sending of delegations to
military academies and the use of each other's airspace and seas for pilot training.
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