Turkish Navy To Get 8 ATR-72-600 Planes Instead Of 10 As Originaly Agreed.

21 May 2013 3 Comments

The heavy edited announcement from the Italian aircraft maker Aleina Aermacchi made it sound so nice, it was too good to be true.

Alenia Aermacchi has signed an agreement with Savunma Sanayii Müsteşarlığı (SSM), the Turkish Undersecretariat for Defence Industries to deliver two ATR 72-600 TMUA (Turkish Maritime Utility Aircraft) and six ATR 72-600 TMPA (Turkish Maritime Patrol Aircraft) to the Turkish Navy. The contract calls for strong industrial collaboration between Alenia Aermacchi and Turkish Aerospace Industry (TAI) for the duration of the project.

But the magic lasted only one paragraph.

The agreement is an amendment to a previous deal between Alenia and the Turkish government for the delivery of 10 ATR 72-500 ASW to the Turkish Navy.The most important change into the contract amendment is the adoption of the new -600 version of the ATR 72, the best in class of regional Turboprop. The original contract was based on the now out of production ATR 72-500.

I think the whole Meltem acquisition project should be thought in business and project management courses as a case study as an example how not to run a project.

When the Project started in 1998, CASA was still an independent company; the C-295 has just made its maiden flight and its ASW version did not exist even in the dreams of the CASA/EADS/Airbus Military engineers. After 16 years we still do not have any fully operational ASW planes for our navy.

And it gets only worse. Last week the Alenia announced that they were going to delivery 8 new planes to Turkish Navy. This is actually BS as two of the planes will be two ATR 72-600 TMUA (Turkish Maritime Utility Aircraft) which means in plain English that these planes will carry neither weapons nor any sensors. They will be used cargo planes.

Thanks to the agreement, the Turkish Navy will obtain the last generation ATR72-600 equipped with a glass cockpit as well as more powerful engines that guarantee best performance and supportability for the next 30 years.

The two ATR 72-600TMUA–already in the modification phase at Alenia Aermacchi’s plant in Naples-Capodichino–will be used by the Turkish Navy for personnel and cargo transport and will be delivered in June and July 2013 .

In July 2005 a contract was signed to procure 10 ATR-72-500 planes for ASW missions, to be used by Turkish Navy after the first part of the program involving the CN-235 planes was stuck.  8 years later, the Italians realized that they cannot deliver the 10 planes to according to the deal done in the contract so they had to renegotiate the whole deal. Now we get 2 planes less but a newer version of the ATR-72 plane as production of the  -500 variant is discontinued in the mean time.

As the newer -600 version has improved engines it is believed that the performance of the -600 will be superior to the old -500 version. But this fact has to be proven first.

I must give my respects to the PR people of the SSM and Alenia as they deserved it by making a good news from the rotten state of the whole Meltem Project; that is some spin doctoring.

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TCG Tarsus Sighted

24 Apr 2013 2 Comments

P1204 TCG Tarsus

P-1204 TCG Tarsus

On 23 April 2013 I have sighted the 4 boat of the Tuzla class patrol boats P-1204 TCG Tarsus.

She was returning from sea trial. It is interesting to note that while she is manned by naval personnel and under the command of  an officer she returned to the builder’s yard. The ASW rocket launcher at aft seem to be not installed.

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Turkish Navy Permanently Commissions New Landing Ship

13 Mar 2013 1 Comment

Ç154

Ç-154 the fourth ship of the fast LCT class. She is identical to Ç-151. Photo: Ahmet Güven.

Turkish Navy officially and permanently commissioned the fast landing ship Ç-151. Ç-151 is the first ship of the new LCT class of Turkish Navy.

In 2007, Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (UDI), submitted a Request for Proposal for 8 LCT’s. These new vessels were to be built in Turkey and had to be fast. From the four companies that submitted to the tender, ADİK shipyard was chosen. On June 2009, a contract was signed between UDI and ADİK for the production of the ships. The exact value of the contract was not made public but it is estimated to be around 100 million EUR. All 8 ships have been delivered to the Turkish Navy.

The construction of Ç-151, the first ship of the class of was started in January 2010 and she was launched on 2nd October 2010. She was handed over to Turkish Navy on 9th March 2012.  Ç-151 took part in the joint Turkish-Egyptian naval exercise Sea of Friendship (Bahr El Sadaka) in October 2012.

When a newly constructed ship is handed over to Turkish Navy the ship is in “temporary” commissioning  This means that during the warranty period of the shipyard the ship is not permanently commissioned in Turkish Navy. This happens after the warranty period of the shipyard expires and the Turkish Navy alone receives the responsibility of the ship.

Till August 2013 the same procedure will repeated for the remaining 7 LCT’s.

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The Details Of Pakistan Fleet Tanker Project

23 Feb 2013 Leave a comment

tankerPN

The details of the deal signed between Ministry of Defence Production, Pakistan and STM of Turkey about the construction of a tanker for Pakistani Navy.

The tanker will be 155m long with a 15.600 tons of displacement. The double hulled tanker will be able to make 20 knots and supply three ships simultaneously while the helicopter she carries performs vertical replenishment.

The value of the contract is around 80 million US Dollars. The estimated time for the first steel cut is in summer 2013. The construction of the tanker will take 48 months.

STM as the main contractor will be responsible from the whole project while the construction will be done in Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works Ltd in Pakistan.

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Turkey Will Built A Tanker For Pakistani Navy

6 Feb 2013 2 Comments

Actually this is not new. The contract was signed in 25th January 2013. But for some unexplained reasons it remained out of the scope of Turkish Media. Although the value of the  contract is not mentioned it might be the biggest naval ship export done by Turkey.

ISLAMABAD: Contract for construction of Fleet Tanker (Logistic Support Ship) for Pakistan Navy was signed between Ministry of Defence Production, Pakistan and STM of Turkey on Tuesday in Rawalpindi.
The contract has been signed by Munitions Productions Director General Rear Admiral Imtiaz Ahmed SI(M) on behalf of the government of Pakistan and Board of STM Chairperson and Electronics Warfare and Sensors programmes in SSM Department Head Elife Unal on behalf of STM, Turkey.
The main highlights of the project are that design of the ship along with kit of Material (KoM) will be provided by STM and the complete construction and assembly activities will be undertaken at Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works Ltd. Ship construction is a strategic industry, in fact no country has gained the status of a developed country without the development of the shipbuilding industry and trained manpower in this field. Therefore, construction Fleet Tanker at Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works will not only enhance ship construction (tanker) capacity and expertise of the Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works, but will also help in developing its human resource to meet the future challenges of warship design and construction. Local downstream industry, in the long run will also benefit from the ship construction in the form of procurement of construction consumables by Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works from the local market.
The Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works is already constructing ships and craft for Pakistan Navy, however, this is the first time in the history of Pakistan that Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works will build a Fleet Tanker (Logistics Support Ship) at its facilities. Construction of the Fleet Tanker is in line with Admiral Mohammad Asif Sandila NI (M), Chief of the Naval Staff’s vision of achieving self-reliance and indigenisation of defence equipment. The tanker with its modern design and state-of-the-art capabilities will significantly enhance Pakistan Navy’s fleet combat prowess and logistic stamina.
…

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Finally: The First Maritime Surveillance Plane Officially Inaugurated

27 Jan 2013 Leave a comment

TCSG552

The first maritime surveillance plane for the Turkish Coast Guard entered into service. Photos: Savunma ve Strateji Forumu.

15 years after the project has started the first plane of the Meltem project  was finally handed over to the Turkish Coast Guard on 23th January 2013. When the Meltem project started, this and this aircraft were not even on drawing boards. Since then they have taken off.

The plane TCSG-552 is the first of the three planes acquired for the surveillance missions. The planes of the coast guard are equipped with a side looking airborne radar (SLAR), AselFLIR-200,  Ocean Master 400 radar. The remaining two planes will enter into service in 2013.

Since the start of the Meltem has been beleaguered with delays. The project has 3 parts:

  • Meltem I:  The purchase of three CN-235′s for Exclusive Economic Zone surveillance missions by the Turkish Coast Guard and six CN-235′s in AsuW and ASW missions for Turkish Navy. This part of the project started in 1998 and ended in 2002.
  • Meltem II:  The integration of AMASCOS  (Airborne MAritime Situation & Control System) and its sub components on the above mentioned planes. The Thales made AMASCOS  was selected as the main C3I system for the above mentioned CN-235 planes back in 2002. Thales acts as the main contractor and Turkish companies TAI, Havelsan, Aselsan and Milsoft are acting as sub contractors. According to the contract the planes were to be in service in 2007. But the first modified plane made its maiden flight one year after the contractual delivery date. The aircraft started to enter into contemporary commission only in 2012 both in Turkish Navy and Turkish Coast Guard.
  • Meltem III: The purchase of ten ATR-72 ASW planes and integration of AMASCOS on to them. For Meltem (III) Aleina is the prime contractor. No aircraft has yet been delivered to the Navy and this stage of the project too encountered some delays already. It is possible that in the end Turkish Navy will get less than 10 planes.

More photos from the maritime surveillance plane:
tcsg552c
tcsg552b

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My Impressions From The 5.Naval Systems Seminar (Part I)

9 Oct 2012 1 Comment

It is once again that wonderful time of the year when we gather in Ankara and discuss the proceedings of Turkish naval ship building industry. The 5th Naval Systems Seminar has started today.

Deputy Undersecretary (Platform Projects) Mr. Serdar Demirel, and Head of Naval Platforms Department Mr. Mustafa Şeker made important presentation where they summarized the process of the Turkish naval shipbuilding g in the last 6 years and laid down the plans for the future.

As today the total contract value of naval system is 8 billion USD whereas the total value of all defence contracts is 27 billion USD. In other words the naval projects make up a third of all current defence projects. But the current level of spending for naval projects is not sustainable and the pipeline for the future projects is not very big.

In order to survive in such environment Turkish shipyards need to merge, need to invest in R&D and need to export. This is the solution offered by UDI.

The word consolidation was used several times both in Mr. Demirel’s and Mr Şeker’s presentations. Creation of some kind of a holding company for the Turkish naval ship building is in the plans of UDI. The aim is to create a household name which will be associated with the Turkish naval shipbuilding industry. One other aim of creating such a holding company is to consolidate design plus some R&D activities and to keep the talented workforce both occupied and in the industry. This is an ambitious plan. This plans success of failure will decide the future of the industry. The UDI will have to use a big amount of determination, persuasion and a very large stick in order to make Turkish shipyards to work together. At the moment managements of the most yards are not mature enough to create a work force à la ARGE F125 of Germany.

There is a military adage that amateurs talk tactics, but professionals talk logistics. “Logistics” seems to be become the new buzzword for the UDI.

UDI defines 4 important steps for increased logistics awareness within the industry:

1)      Performance based approach to logistics

2)      Involvement of the main contractor to the logistics processes

3)      Modernization and maintenance

4)      Product life cycle management

The aim of this move is to keep as much money as possible in Turkey, which will spend for the logistic support of one naval unit over the life cycle of them.

These steps will help to maintain the link between the producer and the end-user which would normally end after the completion of the production process.

In general the tone of this year’s Naval Systems Seminar was very different from earlier ones. This year’s NSS is more mature more sophisticated.

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The First Upgraded MEKO 200 Frigate Of Turkish Navy

5 Oct 2012 1 Comment

Well the DHA story about the naval activity in Gölcük Naval Base was not completely useless.

MEKO 200 Track IIB Class frigate F-246 TCG Salihreis with her brand new Smart S Mk2 radar. Photo: Doğan Haber Ajansı.

This is the first public photo of the frigate TCG Salihreis with her brand new 3D Smart-S Mk2 radar. The last batch of 4 MEKO 200 frigates were delivered to Turkish Navy with AWS-9 3D radars of British origin.  A modernization program for the MEKO 200 class was started after Turkish decided to use Smart-S Mk2 radar in the first two ships of the Milgem class.

TCG Salihreis is the 4 ship in Turkish inventory to have this new radar. The other ships are F-511 TCG Heybeliada, F-512 TCG Büyükada and F-497 TCG Göksu.

The difficult and sometimes dangerous maintenance and the structural complexity of the AWS-9 radars does not make these equipment very popular among its users. So I expect that once the tests of this new radar are completed there will be other replacements too.

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First Photos Of The Interceptor Craft Built For The Qatar Navy

23 Sep 2012 Leave a comment

Q42, one of the 3 MRTP 16 class interceptors Yonca Onuk Shipyard is building for Qatar Naval Forces, escorted by one MRTP 19 class boat of Turkish Coast Guard.

During the Dimdex 2012 maritime defence exhibition in Qatar, it was announced that the Turkish shipyard Yonca Onuk has signed a contract with Qatar Armed Forces. According to the contract Turkish shipyard is building 3 MRTP 16 class interceptors and 3 MRTP 34 class fast patrol boats for the Qatar Naval Forces. This is the second contract Yonca Onuk has signed in the Gulf Region. Their  first customer was the United Arab Emirates for 34 boats.

These are probably the first photos of the MRTP 16 class taken. The craft is not armed but there is a platform just at the aft end of the cabin where a remotely controlled stabilized gun mount can be installed.

Q42, one of the 3 MRTP 16 class interceptors Yonca Onuk Shipyard is building for Qatar Naval Forces.

Q42 from a different angle.

SG-23 TCSG 23. Turkish Coast Guard’s Kaan 19 class boat escorting the Qatari craft.

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Why Turkey Rejected UK’s Global Combat Ship

10 Jun 2012 3 Comments

Well, marketing is not selling. The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the contractor BAE paid a high price to learn this elementary lesson in selling.

Actually they did a good marketing campaign to gain favor among Turkish decision makers. BAE attended every important defence related exhibition in 2011. During these events the representatives of BAE tried to spread the scope of the project as much as possible and they took time to talk to bloggers like yours truly in order to make their message heard.

The UK government invited the representatives of large Turkish companies and high ranking defence bureaucrats to UK to discuss potential business opportunities.

When the Turkish president was visiting UK, he was given a tour on board of the new RN Type 45 destroyer HMS Dauntless to show the results of British shipbuilding industry.

Yet all these – and probably other – efforts failed to convince Turkey to join the Type 26 / Global Combat Ship project. Why?

I think, the UK side failed to deliver the positive change Turkey would gain by joining this project in clear and precise terms.

In this case the Type 26 / GSC project was already in an advanced stage when Turkey was asked to join. As it was late to join, the Turkish participation would have increased the cost. Or Turkey would have had to review its requirements in accordance existing plans prepared by BAE for the British Navy. But the requirements and the traditions of Turkish Navy is very different from the requirements and the traditions of the RN so that a compromise is not feasible.

In sales, every successful sales happens because the buyer comes to believe the product or service will make a positive impact. And the buyer needs to see that the value of the product or service he wishes to buy outweighs its price. It seems that the Brits missed this single important point of a successful sales effort.

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