US missile manufacturer Raytheon still sees a potential market for the PAC-3 upgrade of its Patriot anti-tactical ballistic missile (ATBM) in Turkey, despite that nation’s professed preference for the Israeli Arrow system.
Turkey has recently issued a request for information (RFI) for an ATBM programme, but external factors are likely to prove problematical for an Arrow purchase, believes Joseph Garrett, vice-president, international operations, Raytheon Integrated Defence Systems.
“The US government has never approved the release of the Arrow to a third party nation,” he says. “That missile was developed with a lot of US funding and assistance. Turkey might have had a lot of information on it but I don’t see that system being released under current US provisions.”
On top of those factors, Turkey is a NATO member, and with several NATO nations already using Patriot, he believes it would be strange that a member of the alliance would not use equipment already widely in service with it.
There is increased interest in integrated air and missile defence systems worldwide, Garrett says, given fears over the intentions of countries such as North Korea and Iran.
He says the company is in discussions with most of the nine ‘international Patriot partners’ over upgrades to their systems to bring them up to PAC-3 standard.
This would give them the same configuration as US forces.
Source: Flight Daily News
