Special to WorldTribune.com

ISTANBUL — Turkey has been awarded billions of dollars worth of
subcontracts without the purchase of the Joint Strike Fighter.

Lockheed Martin has pledged to provide Turkey with at least $12 billion
in subcontracts for the production of the F-35 fighter-jet. The pledge came
despite Turkey’s refusal to place an order for the fifth-generation
aircraft.

“We planned to build 3,100 jets by 2039 in the framework of the [JSF]
project,” L-M vice president Steve O’Brian said. “It means a business worth around $12 billion for Turkey.”

Officials said Turkey, one of nine partners in the project, has begun
work on what could amount to $5 billion worth of JSF subcontracts. They said the lion’s share of work was allocated to the state-owned Turkish Aerospace Industries, contracted to help build the fuselage in cooperation with Northrop Grumman.

In January, Turkey’s Defense Industry Undersecretariat, or SSM,
announced a delay in plans to procure two F-35s. SSM cited defects in the
plane as well as uncertainty over price.

“Turkey obtained a contract worth $300 million from this project even
though it has not made any jet orders,” O’Brian told a briefing at IDEF-2013
on May 8. “However, this amount will increase to $1 billion when jet orders
start to be delivered.”

O’Bryan said Turkey would eventually order 100 JSF aircraft. He said the
aircraft, expected to worth less than $12 billion, would be delivered
between 2017 and 2025.

“Although we experienced some difficulties, we achieved our target to
finish the product at the end of three years while reducing the
expenditures,” O’Brian said.

Other Turkish subcontractors in JSF were identified as Aselsan, Havelsan
and Roketsan. L-M has recruited Havelsan to help develop the U.S.-origin
Aegis ballistic missile defense system. At IDEF, the two companies displayed
a naval combat system mockup that could be procured by Turkey and regional
countries.

  Havelsan, Joint Strike Fighter, Lockheed Martin, Turkey getting billions in F-35 subcontracts — without buying the F-35