Turkey’s advanced submarine project goes to German companies

Turkish industrial participation in the project will be worth around 80 percent of the total value of the deal, Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül said, speaking to the press following yesterday’s meeting of the Executive Committee of the Undersecretariat for the Defense Industry (SSM).

“For the first time Turkey will receive 80 percent of the offset pledge [from a foreign competitor] in a navy project. This indicates the increased level of Turkish defense technology,” he said.

Around 20 systems and sub-systems will be produced by local Turkish industry and integrated into the submarines, he added, with the first submarine to be delivered in 2015.

DCNS (Armaris) from France and Navantia S.A. from Spain were the other competitors in the Turkish tender, announced in December 2006. The AIP 214 submarines to be acquired are in the inventories of very few countries, Gönül said, adding that those submarines stay at sea for more than 50 days, a multifold increase of the duration Turkish submarines in inventory can currently stay submerged.

The submarines will also have the capability to navigate under the sea for around 18 to 20,000 kilometers, he said. According to Gönül, guarantees that Turkey received on several technical issues, including the engineering work, played a significant role in the selection of the German company.

HDW/MFI pledged to bring the technology and infrastructure for the first vertical production of the submarines at the Gölcük shipyard.

If a contract is signed with the German company for the joint production of the AIP 214 submarines, cooperation on the production of the same type of submarines with Pakistan will also become possible, Gönül said, while answering questions.