Turkey did her part in EUROSAM consortium
President of Defense Industries. Dr. İsmail Demir made statements about the ongoing defense industry projects during his online meeting with defense media groups.
In his speech, İsmail Demir stated that Turkish firms in the EUROSAM consortium, which is one of the most important multinational projects in which Turkish defense industry companies participate, had fulfilled their obligations. Demir emphasized that as Turkey did her part, other partners should also remain adherent to the project.
In January 2020, during the assessment meeting for 2019 and planning meeting for 2020 held at the Presidency of Defense Industries C Demir said, “The reason that we do not still have any tangible outcomes for SAMP-T despite the completion of identification is France’s attitude towards Turkey. There is a possibility to proceed the project with Italian partners, but the process may be congested.”
To sum up, he mentioned that due to her activities in both Libya and the Mediterranean against Turkey, France does not fulfill her obligations for EUROSAM and there may be a possibility to continue the project in cooperation with Italian partners.
İsmail Demir, who was the guest of NTV live broadcast on June 8, 2020, added that the concept definition for the development and production of EUROSAM, a joint long-range air defense system carried out with the French-Italian partnership came to an end.
In 2018, Turkey joined the missile program. The missile program was estimated to be ready in the mid-2020s.
“Turkey Did Her Part”
Underlining that there would be more reviews for the project as long as the need for more concrete proposals for air defense system, Ismail Demir said,
“As for EUROSAM, there was a definition we started in advance. In general, this study will enable joint use by 3 countries; France, Italy and Turkey, I mean. It was the scope for joint development of an advanced air defense system. The identification studies for Turkey were completed as we are in the final phase. With the other two countries adding their own definitions to the system, they will set out with a common roadmap. We said that we were ready to review the proposals regarding the direct supply of the system within the framework of this project. But we have repeatedly mentioned that we are very insistent on this joint production and technology issues in the proposal for Patriot.”
