𝗦𝗮𝘃𝘂𝗻𝗺𝗮𝗧𝗥.𝗰𝗼𝗺 (𝟴 𝗡𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲): "Türkiye, İtalya’dan hava savunma sistemi tedarik etmeyi planlıyor" + 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗴 (𝟴 𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲): "Turkey Seeks Missile-Defense System From Italy After Iran Threat" + 🔴 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗯𝗲𝘀 (𝟯𝟬 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲): "Iran War Displays Anti-Ballistic Deficiencies In Turkey’s Air Defense"
EMI P
.png?part=0.1&view=1)
Türkiye, İtalya’dan hava savunma sistemi tedarik etmeyi planlıyor
.jpg?part=0.2&view=1)
Bloomberg’in edindiği bilgilere göre Türkiye, İran’dan gelen füze tehditlerinin ardından Avrupa yapımı füze savunma sistemlerini satın almak ve ortaklaşa üretmek amacıyla İtalya ile görüşmeler yürütüyor.
Ankara, hava savunmasını güçlendirmek için Fransız-İtalyan ortaklığı Eurosam GIE tarafından üretilen SAMP/T füze bataryalarını uzun süredir talep ediyordu. Ancak Fransa daha önceki talepleri geri çevirerek satışı engellemişti. Meselenin gizliliği nedeniyle isimlerinin açıklanmasını istemeyen kaynaklar, Türk müzakerecilerin bu kez Fransa’nın daha olumlu bir tutum sergileyebileceğine inandıklarını belirtti.
Turkey Seeks Missile-Defense System From Italy After Iran Threat
.png?part=0.5&view=1)
Turkey is in talks with Italy to buy and co-produce European-made missile-defense systems following missile threats from Iran, according to people familiar with the matter.
Ankara has long sought SAMP/T missile batteries produced by the French-Italian firm Eurosam GIE to shore up its air defenses, but France rejected previous requests. The people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private, said Turkey’s negotiators believe France may be more favorable this time.
The negotiations with Italy were earlier reported by Turkish daily Yeni Safak. Neither the Turkish defense ministry nor the Italian government responded to requests for comment. The French presidency deferred a request for comment to the defense ministry, which didn’t respond.
.jpeg?part=0.4&view=1)
© Photographer: Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images
Turkey’s desire to use SAMP/T systems to build its own “steel dome” missile-defense shield — modeled after Israel’s Iron Dome — gained urgency after North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces intercepted four missiles fired from Iran toward Turkey since the start of the war in the Middle East, the people said.
Ankara has long tried to convince NATO partners to co-produce air-defense weapons as a way of developing a home-grown industry. Turkey and Eurosam signed an accord on co-producing a missile-defense system in 2018 but subsequent French objections prevented any further movement.
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said last month that Italy plans to send air, drone and missile defenses to Arab Gulf nations.
On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan inaugurated the first phase of a planned $3 billion production facility operated by state-run missile producer Roketsan Roket Sanayi ve Ticaret. The factory, situated near Ankara, will boost production in coming years of domestically developed missile-defense systems and ballistic missiles, including Turkey’s flagship Tayfun model.
“With these investments, we will strengthen our layered air-defense system,” Erdogan said, adding that Turkey sold more than $10 billion worth of arms last year. “We will solidify our cruise and ballistic missile capabilities.”
In the past month, NATO deployed two US-made Patriot missile-defense systems to Turkey after it intercepted Iranian missiles believed to be targeting alliance assets in the country: an advanced early-warning radar system at Kurecik, in eastern Turkey, and the Incirlik Air Base near the Syrian border, where hundreds of US personnel are stationed.
Ankara is preparing to host the next NATO leaders’ summit in July and has recently called for unrestricted defense-industry cooperation to improve deterrence along the alliance’s southeastern flank.
It’s also trying to mend relations with the US that frayed over Turkey’s acquisition of Russian-made S-400 batteries in 2019, the people said. Washington wants Turkey to abandon the S-400s, which are incompatible with NATO’s defense systems, and rejoin the US-led F-35 program.
--With assistance from Donato Paolo Mancini and Samy Adghirni.
ByPaul Iddon,
Senior Contributor.
.webp?part=0.7&view=1)
NATO air defenses intercepted a ballistic missile over Turkish airspace on Monday in the fourth incident of its kind since the Iran war started on February 28. The incident served as another demonstration of Turkey’s reliance on its NATO allies for defense against ballistic threats.
“A ballistic munition, determined to have been launched from Iran and to have entered Turkish airspace, has been neutralized by NATO air and missile defense assets deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean,” the Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement quoted by Turkey’s Anadolu Agency.
Turkey’s NATO allies previously intercepted ballistic missiles targeting Turkey on March 4, 9, and 13. All of these missiles originated from Iran. Tehran officially denies firing at its eastern neighbor. Southeast Turkey is home to the enormous Incirlik air base and NATO’s Kurecik radar station.
Unlike its neighbor and fellow NATO member, Greece, Turkey never acquired the Patriot, although it had long had the option to buy it or other advanced American systems.
Turkey’s reliance on these allies for timely Patriot deployments during regional crises is anything but new. In January 1991, Patriots were deployed in southeast Turkey to defend against Scud-B ballistic missiles in the arsenal of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq during the Persian Gulf War. Thirteen years later, the Netherlands deployed a Patriot system to help bolster Turkish defenses during the 2003 Anglo-American invasion of Iraq that toppled Hussein’s regime.
Turkey has several other assets for defending its airspace from various threats. Its air force boasts the third-largest F-16 fighter fleet in the world. Additionally, it has recently made a landmark order of up to 56 Eurofighter Typhoons, including the advanced Tranche 4+ variant.
On the ground, Turkey is also taking steps to build a national, integrated air defense system, consisting entirely of homegrown systems it dubs the Steel Dome. In an interview with Anadolu on Friday, the CEO of Turkey’s missile manufacturer Roketsan, Murat Ikinci, extolled the project. “I can say that we are working for it to be able to meet all of our country’s air defense needs,” he told the state-run outlet.
Nevertheless, Ikinci did not mention any anti-ballistic capability in Steel Dome. With its homegrown Hisar and Siper surface-to-air missiles and other systems, the Steel Dome will likely be highly capable of defending against a wide range of aircraft, cruise missiles, and drones. However, even the Siper, with its present 62-mile range, cannot substitute a system like the Patriot PAC-3 when it comes to combating ballistic threats, much less the American Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, THAAD, or Israel’s Arrow 3 systems.
The closest Turkey has to any of these systems is its Russian-built S-400s. Turkey’s acquisition of these systems in 2019 led to its swift suspension from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program by the United States. Ankara never introduced them into service and has no plans to use them to plug the anti-ballistic missile gap in the Steel Dome. Following the third ballistic missile interception on March 13, Turkey’s defense ministry clarified that the S-400 wasn’t used as the NATO systems were better suited. In Russian service, the S-400 has exhibited difficulties in combating ballistic missile threats during Moscow’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
With no plans to integrate the S-400 into the Steel Dome, or even to introduce it into active service as a standalone system, it’s unclear what purpose Ankara sees the Russian system ever fulfilling. In December, Bloomberg reported that Turkey had asked Russia to take the missiles back so it could rejoin the F-35 program. Ankara seeks to buy 40 F-35s to upgrade its air force if it does gain reentry. Ridding itself of S-400s, if it ultimately does so, could readily restore Ankara’s authorization to purchase top-tier American air defense systems, including the Patriot and possibly even THAAD in the future.
After the 1991 Gulf War, Turkey upgraded and modernized its military, which hitherto consisted of tanks dating back to the Korean War, in light of the instability created by that war along its frontier. The current Iran war may prove even more destabilizing in the long term, giving Ankara ample justification to strengthen its military through homegrown developments and the acquisition of some of the most advanced systems its NATO allies can provide.