Combat Aircraft – August 2019

http://www.combataircraft.net // August 2019 1717

TURKEY’S INDUSTRIAL

INVOLVEMENT IN THE F-

According to official sources, the

breakdown of Turkey’s F-35 industrial

partnership is as follows:

• Alp Aviation provides structure
  and assemblies for the airframe,
  components for the landing gear, and
  more than 100 individual parts for the
  F135 engine.


• Ayesas is currently the sole-source
  supplier for two major F-35 components:
  the missile remote interface unit and the
  panoramic cockpit display.


• Fokker Elmo manufactures more than a
  third of the F-35’s Electrical Wiring and
  Interconnection System (EWIS), and will
  also help deliver and support all center
  section wiring systems. Fokker Elmo is
  also developing the EWIS for the F
  engine.


• Havelsan has been instrumental as the
  lead for developing the future Turkish
  F-35 Integrated Pilot and Maintenance
  Training Center (IPMTC).


• Kale Aerospace manufactures and
  produces airframe structures and
  assemblies. Most notably, they support
  Heroux Devtek as the sole source
  supplier for landing gear-up lock
  assemblies in all three variants.
  
  
  • ROKETSAN and Tubitak-SAGE are the
    Turkish joint leadership team that
    strategically manages the development,
    integration, and production of the
    advanced precision-guided Stand-Off
    Missile (SOM-J) which was to be carried
    internally aboard the F-35.
  
  
  • Turkish Aerospace supplies hardware
    that goes into every F-35 production
    aircraft. In conjunction with Northrop
    Grumman, Turkish Aerospace
    manufactures and assembles the center
    fuselages, produces composite skins and
    weapon bay doors, and manufactures
    fiber placement composite air inlet
    ducts. Additionally, they manufacture 45
    per cent of the F-35’s Alternate Mission
    Equipment (AME).
  
  
  
  

Knock-on effect

According to Ellen Lord, undersecretary of

defense for acquisition and sustainment,

Turkey will not be allowed to remain involved

in supplying parts for the Lightning II, and the

F-35 Joint Program Office has been hunting

for potential alternative suppliers for those

critical parts ‘for some time’.

Eight Turkish companies have contributed

significantly to both the airframe and

the propulsion system. Turkey was given

approval and provided with licensing from

Pratt & Whitney to build its own F135 engines

and was also selected to support F

engine depot-level maintenance in Europe.

Components manufactured in Turkey for

production and sustainment are currently

fielded in F-35s globally, with an estimated

value of $12 billion over the life of the

program.

Vendors from partner nations are a critical

part of the national defense strategy of the

US and its NATO allies, and companies such

as those are uniquely positioned to foster

relationships. That said, it’s a delicate balance,

evaluated on a case-by-case basis, both from

a quality control standpoint as well as nations

aligning themselves to work toward common

goals.

According to a letter written last summer by

then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis, an

interruption in the supply chain from Turkey

could mean a delay in delivering between 50

and 75 aircraft and could take as long as two

years to rectify.

Even so, the position of the US and its other

partners is crystal clear: Turkey must not buy

both the F-35 and the S-400. A strong push is

being made to support Turkey’s acquisition of

Raytheon’s venerable Patriot missile system

to meet its air defense requirements. Being

NATO-compliant, it would allow for Turkey to

remain in the JSF program.

16-18 Ops Desk C.indd 17 21/06/2019 11: