ISTANBUL (Turkey), May 21 (SeeNews) – Turkish defence procurement agency Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (SSM) said it has signed a letter of intent (LoI) with Pratt & Whitney for the establishment of a national-level F135 final assembly and check-out and maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade capabilities in Turkey.
“Turkey’s primary aim is to provide benefit to the [JSF] program by assembling F135 engines and providing service to the F-35 users in the region via these facilities to be established”, SSM said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme, a defence acquisition programme initiated by the US government to meet the new generation fighter aircraft requirements of the US Services beyond 2010, is aimed at cooperative development, production and sustainment of the F-35 aircraft within an international partnership. Turkey has been in the programme from the Concept Development Phase and has contributed to System Development and Demonstration and Production Sustainment and Follow-on Development phases as a partner nation, said SSM.