Senior FNSS officials speaking to Today's Zaman stated that the latest contract with Saudi Arabia went into effect this month and that they are expecting overlapping multiple contracts to be signed with Riyadh for the modernization of all the Saudis' M113 armored vehicles, estimated to be around 2,000.
The current contract for the 300 involves a total overhaul of the vehicles. The parts to be produced by FNSS will be assembled at Saudi military facilities near the city of Sadr Al Kharj.
FNSS, which earlier modernized 64 M113 armored vehicles for the Saudis in two batches in 2004 and in 2005, will be in charge of the management of Saudi military facilities during the upgrade of the additional 300. Ninety percent of the engineers at the Saudi facilities are those trained by FNSS engineers, the officials said.
In the latest Saudi deal, FNSS will again work with foreign subcontractors for the acquisition of some systems to be equipped on the M113s, including night vision thermal cameras. Under a rare practice, drivers of the M113 vehicles to be modernized will also wear thermal cameras - an expensive practice, but one that increases the capability of the user’s long-range vision at night.
FNSS is a Turkey-based joint venture between the Nurol Group of Turkey and BAE Systems plc’s North America branch, BAE Systems Inc., formerly known as United Defense L.P.
“In some international contracts we become rivals with our partner, BAE Systems Inc., and sometimes we act together. In the Saudi deal, for example, our partner BAE Systems was our rival,” said the FNSS officials.
FNSS earlier delivered 1,698 armored fighting vehicles under four different configurations for the Turkish Land Forces Command.
Under a separate contract, FNSS also delivered 551 advanced armored personnel carriers (AAPC) to the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) under a 2000 agreement costing around $338 million.
New contracts with Malaysia and Bahrain
Among the latest deals signed by FNSS with other countries is an agreement with Malaysia involving the sale of eight FNSS-made armored combat vehicles-stretched (ACV-S), codenamed Akıncı, to be equipped with 120-mm mortars manufactured by Turkey’s state-owned Machines and Chemical Industries Board (MKEK).
This will be the first time FNSS sells its Akıncı vehicles to Malaysia, and the contract became effective in July of this year. ACV-Ss are the extended versions of ACVs, though this version carries much heavier weapons platforms.
FNSS delivered 211 armored combat vehicles (ACV) with 11 different variants to Malaysia in 2000.
The company has lately won another tender under which it will equip Bahrain’s Belgian-made ACVs with MKEK-made 81-mm mortars as well as modernize seven ACVs for the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
In 2004 FNSS sold an armored recovery vehicle (ARV) to the AFP in what was reportedly the first instance of a Turkish company selling military equipment to the Philippine military.
FNSS also won a contract in January of this year for the local manufacture of 52 amphibious assault bridge vehicles, including four prototypes contracted by the
Undersecretariat for the Defense Industry (SSM). The estimated cost of the project is over $130 million and the vehicles are scheduled to be delivered in about five years.
This system, a derivative of the wheeled vehicle called PARS 8x8 that was also developed by FNSS, will be the first indigenously designed and developed land platform ordered by the Turkish Land Forces. It will be available for the world defense market in few years’ time.
FNSS, which recorded its highest turnover with $280 million in 2003, expects to exceed that record in two years.
Their first exports were made to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 1997 when the company sold 133 ACVs worth around $75 million to the UAE army. This was followed by the delivery of 211 FNSS-made ACVs to Malaysia in a $300 million deal signed in 2000, marking the biggest Turkish defense industry export in one package.
In December 2002 FNSS also signed a contract with the Belgian Defense Ministry under which the company has been providing spare parts as well as logistic support for around 700 ACVs in the Belgian army.
FNSS also introduced RG-31 vehicles, a primary carrier for many NATO countries, effective in protecting crews against heavy mine blasts. The company, which bought its production license from its partner, BAE Systems North America, is awaiting an order from the TSK for serial production.
The vehicles will be effective in the country’s terror-stricken Southeast where roadside bombs and mines are taking the lives of Turkish security forces.
Technology transfer talks with Korea
In a related development Turkey’s SSM, which has been striving to turn the imports-oriented Turkish defense industry into a technology-friendly sector, lessening the dependency on foreign technologies to around 50 percent by 2010 from the current 75 percent, has been pushing the local defense industry sector to create its own defense infrastructure.
Thus emphasis has also been put on cooperation with countries with which Turkey could develop critical technologies. One of those countries has been South Korea, and Turkey has currently been negotiating for the transfer of technology required to develop prototypes for Turkey’s next-generation main battle tank (MBT).
SSM has been negotiating with South Korea’s state-owned Agency for Defense Development (ADD) for this purpose and hopes to sign a government-to-government agreement for this purpose in the next two months.
In June of this year the SSM’s executive committee selected South Korean company Rotem as a subcontractor to develop four tank prototypes in Turkey. A separate deal will then be signed for the serial production of up to 250 next-generation tanks.
Turkish company Otokar is the main contractor for the deal, and it intends to produce the first diesel-fueled tank in 2012.
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