Turkey postpones missile defence decision to August 31
00:00, 03/07/2014, ThursdayU: Update: 17:06, 03/07/2014, Thursday
Yeni Şafak
Turkey postpones missile defence decision to Augu
A multi-billion dollar long-range air and missile defence system tender has been extended for bids until August 31, Turkish Defense Industry Undersecretariat says
In a statement by the Undersecretariat on Thursday stated that if contract negotiations with the Chinese contender fails, Turkey will open talks with the runner-up bidder, Eurosam, the Italian-French consortium.
"If negotiations end without success with the European consortium, Turkey will negotiate with the U.S. government for Raytheon/Lockheed Martin's bid," the statement said.
Facing unprecedented pressure from NATO and the U.S. to back away from the Chinese deal citing the state-run Chinese firm CPMIEC is on a U.S. sanctions list and also maintaining that the Chinese system is incompatible with NATO systems, Ankara has extended its deadline for revised offers for the third time.
Turkey, a NATO member state since 1952, announced in September last year that it had chosen the FD-2000 missile defense system from China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp for a $3.4 billion project with high technology transfer-over systems from the Italian-French and American companies.
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