Turkey is waiting for US approval for Predator and Reaper UAV

Turkey, which has applied to the US government for the purchase of two Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems, one of them armed, is now awaiting approval from the US Congress for the transaction. It is not known when or whether the US Congress will approve the sale of, in particular, armed Reaper UAV systems to Turkey, Turkish defense industry sources have said. Turkey's Undersecretariat for the Defense Industry (SSM) made a formal request to the US government almost two-and-a-half months ago for the purchase of UAVs from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems under Foreign Military Sales (FMS) conditions. The SSM's request to the US followed a letter submitted by the Turkish Land Forces Command on Dec. 4 of last year to the SSM indicating that it wanted the UAVs purchased under FMS.

The SSM generally prefers deals that do not include FMS conditions so that it can strike offset deals with the foreign companies involved to enable some work to be transferred to the domestic defense industry. But the Turkish army wanted the Predators purchased under FMS conditions to shorten the purchasing process. Turkish defense industry sources told Today's Zaman that Turkey has requested an RQ 1 Predator and an MQ 9 Reaper that can carry arms, including Lockheed Martin-made Hellfire missiles. Each UAV system comes with at least two aircraft. It is not known how many aircraft Turkey requested under each system.

Behind Turkey's request for the purchase of the two Predator systems lies Ankara's desire to be able to compare the costs of each system. It will also mean that if the US Congress denies approval of the armed UAVs, this may enable Turkey to buy the other UAV system that is not configured to carry arms. Turkish Land Forces Commander Gen. Işık Koşaner acknowledged at a press conference on Oct. 27 that Turkey planned to buy a US-made UAV, noting that one Predator UAV is currently at the disposal of the Turkish military and has been gathering intelligence on the activities of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), primarily in northern Iraq.

The US has been using UAVs, satellites and Lockheed Martin-made U-2 High-Altitude Reconnaissance Aircraft (Dragon Lady) for supplying Turkey with real-time intelligence on PKK activities in northern Iraq, while the Turkish military has been using Israeli-made UAVs purchased earlier as a stopgap measure to gather intelligence on the PKK inside the country.In a related development, there are reports that Turkey might abandon its plans to install camera systems made by domestic producer Aselsan on its Israeli-made Heron UAVs, two of which were delivered to Ankara late last year, due to persistent technical problems related to the camera payload that have reduced the altitude of the Herons. If these plans are implemented, then the current Heron UAVs might not meet the military's demand for UAVs capable of operating at around 30,000 feet, defense industry sources said.

Quoting the Anka news agency, the Sabah daily reported on Dec. 5 of last year that Aselsan-made Airborne Thermal Imaging Systems (Aselflir 300T) mounted on the two Herons were too heavy and reduced the altitude of the vehicles from the required 30,000 feet to 24,000 feet.The decline in altitude will make them susceptible to enemy fire and lead to more fuel waste. The lesser altitude will also curb the UAVs ability to engage in surveillance of larger areas.

Israel delivered two of the 10 long-delayed Heron UAV systems to Turkey on Nov. 29, 2008, and they have been deployed at the Batman military base in the Southeast. But they have not yet become operational due to technical problems. Turkey signed a $183 million contract with Israel's IUP consortium (then Israeli Aircraft Industries and Elbit Systems) in 2005 for the systems.

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