Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES
Boeing is hopeful that Australia will sign a revised contract to procure its delayed 737 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) system by the end of the year, following Turkey's selection of the 737-based system for its own AEW&C requirement.
The $1.5 billion Turkish order covers six aircraft, plus an option on one more, in addition to ground support for crew training, mission support and system modification.
The Boeing-led team includes Northrop Grumman, which will supply the Multirole Electronic-ally Scanned Array (MESA) radar, Havelsan, Turkish Airlines and Turkish Aerospace Industries.
The number of firm aircraft in the Turkish deal - which is expected to be signed early next year - took the Boeing team by surprise. Following downselection along with a competing Raytheon/Elta/Airbus team in April last year, the negotiations with Turkey covered four firm aircraft plus options on two, three or four more.
Packages of "up to seven" aircraft, have also been tabled with the Australian Defence Force for its project Wedgetail, says Boeing Turkey AEW&C programme manager Richard Mintz.
The Australian Government is to announce Wedgetail details on 6 December. The project received Australian cabinet approval in early November and its future will be announced with the nation's defence white paper this week.
It is unclear whether Australia will buy seven aircraft as planned or if its order will be reduced to as few as four platforms. Australia down-selected the 737/MESAcombination in mid-1999 but placed the project on ice at the end of June while carrying out a major review of the requirement.
The Turkish and Australian requirements are known to have been virtually identical, with the pair sharing information.
Assuming the two contracts are signed, the delayed Australian initial operating capability (IOC) date will slide closer to the 2005 delivery date earmarked for the first Turkish aircraft. The first Australian aircraft was due to reach IOC in 2002.
Boeing believes lessons learned on the Australian campaign should help avoid the technology transfer issues that dogged the Wedgetail project. Some sensitive systems for the Turkish aircraft, such as the electronic support measures package, will be supplied by local companies like Aselsan, through prime systems integrator Havelsan.
Turkey's decision will accelerate Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) efforts to market downsized versions of the Phalcon AEW system, made by IAI'sElta subsidiary.
Israeli sources claim Boeing is trying to hamper IAI's international marketing efforts with its full size AEW systems. IAI, with Israeli ministry of defence support, has therefore decided to concentrate on downsized versions of the Phalcon for so-called "tactical missions". Such a system would be mounted on a Lockheed MartinC-130 or business jet-sized aircraft.
Additional reporting by Arie Egozi, Tel Aviv and Peter La Franchi, Canberra
Source: Flight International
