Ambitious Turkey Seeking To Sync National Air and Space Firepower

摘要

Turkey aims to maximize its aerial firepower through several simultaneous programs, mostly indigenous, that better synchronize air and space assets. The most ambitious program is locally designing, developing and building, with foreign technical support, the country's first "national" fighterjet, dubbed the F-X. Turkey's procurement authorities recently decided to employ Sweden's Saab, maker of the JAS 39 Gripen, to help shape their plans to manufacture the F-X. Turkish engineers, with help from Saab, have drafted three models that will be presented to top management at the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM) procurement agency and the air force in September.