XK2, Potential Export to Turkey

This is all speculation on my part so take it for what it is worth, but the US probably would sell M1's to Turkey however the US probably would not give them the update C4I technology that the US has only shares with really close allies like Britian and Australia. The XK2 has equivalent C4I technology that the Turks probably wanted to go along with a state of the art tank.

Also keep in mind the military is very powerful in Turkish politics. The military can constitutionally overthrow the government if it wants to. So by buying the state of the art equipment for the military the Turkis president can buy the loyalty of the military. Additionally the Turks probably don't want to be dependent on US arms and would prefer to get their equipment from a nation that they would not have any future disputes with. The Kurdish question in Iraq is still unsettled and Turkey has threatened to invade Iraqi Kurdistan if they declare independence. Having a state of the art military give them a stronger hand in playing power politics.

I can see how political and social currents in Turkey over the last 10 years or so would make the US reluctant to give them technology that still needs to be kept somewhat under wraps. That is probably a good idea.

I would think the bottom line would have to speak loudest though….these are nations we're talking about, and the price tag on the South Korean tank is so much higher (at least to the US tank).

I would think SK's newness in the market would be a factor too. I know it would for me….

But, if Turkey is happy with the artillery system they bought, they might not be wrong in putting more faith in Korea's industrial ability to build topline equipment.

There you go.

Like I said, it's as good as a "done deal".

And GI, I don't know why you're so concerned about Korea's exporting of high tech weapons to other countries. It's not just yesterday that Korea has been selling weaponry, so look at the past record. Military sales to countries like Malaysia, Phillipines, Turkey, Taiwan, etc. Do you see any dangerous pattern here?

“Chances are very high that South Korea could win the bid because Turkey’s Army and military officials trust our defense technologies more than those of France,’’

Bullshit. The reason the Turks would pick the Koreans over the French has to do with politics, clear and simple. The relations between France and Turkey have been seriously strained since the French parliament declared that denying the Armenian genocide was a crime.

Most sources state that the Korean XK-2 know-how transfer to Turkey covers armor technology as well. Will that include the explosive reactive tiles with VIRSS or only the basic composite armor? And, if the Turkish firm is going to be working on the FCS and other electronics, then what's the use for the Korean IVIS C4I? The very concept of a C4I is pretty nation-specific anyway, and Turkey is definitely capable of integrating its own miliatary information systems. Technological capability is there. In the past, they even sold Korea full flight simulators.

Also, is XAV being proposed as part of the package?

The Reasons for the Korean Tank Deal:

1) Technology Transfer

Turkey developed a small defense industry in the past 20 years but some essential defense technology items are to time & money consuming to invented by yourself – so you try to "buy" or "license" the technology to save time/money.

The USA does not support 100% technology transfer to turkey – happened with the Bell AH-1Z chopper deal…where the USA didnt want to transfer radar, firing & mission computer and even forbidden the later modification of the choppers with "turkish technology developments". Italy offered 100% technology transfer with the Augusta Mangusta A129 attack chopper but lately the producer of the chopper engines (us company) forbidden italy to transfer the engine technology. The other point is that the leclerc tank was never an option for turkey………the german leopard 2A6ex was the only real deal for turkey.

The price of the korean XK2 seems high compared 8,5 Mio Dollar to the 6 Mio Dollar of the Leo 2 or the 5 Mio of the M1 Abraham A1 but keep in mind……the price is for FULL technology transfer. You are buying/licensing the software code, patents and so on.

But the Korean XK2 deal is not just a transfer…..korea and turkey will work together to implement turkish defense technology into the XK2 to create the turkish version "Altay MBT".

It seems that standard communication, IR sensors, Engine, mission computer and other parts will be turkish developments. C4, ABC protection, armour, firing computer and other parts will be korean or modified versions.

The cannon is still based on the german rheinmetall 120mm L55 technology which is also used in the M1A2, Leo 2, Merkava 4, XK2 and so on. The best cannon outthere.

Other Reasons:

2) France did illegally aclaimed turkey of the so-called armenian genocide even international law states that such acclaims can not be stated without a international court or tribunal. Even the UK did such a tribunal in the year 1918 and dropped the charges against the former imperial state of the ottomans. France uses every 4 years the so-called armenian card in the elections and lately to keep turkey out of the EU.

Because of the same reason France was canceled out of the 2 times of bidding for the turkish surveillance spy-sat projekt "gökturk" and the fregate project.

3) Germany

Even many politicans and the german defense industry want to sell the turks the Leo 2 with full technology transfer (even just the version 2A5) – the other politicians and the media uses the "kurdish problem" as a "no-go" even a MBT is usually not used against guerillas & terrorists………light APC or AV are the better choice. So, the germans dropped out …..BUT it seems that turkey gets the MTU Engine for the XK2 as full technology transfer from germany.

4) Connection Turkey and Korea

Since the korean war the ties between turkey and korea are very good. Almost 15 000 turkish soldiers served in korea with the UN forces and the turkish brigade (7000men) fought in the korean war. Therefore turks have a very good reputation in korea. Teakwondo is also almost a national sport in turkey…..brought back with turkish soldiers from korea. Samsung and LG are very succesfull brands in turkey and the quality of korean products is highly regarded in turkey.

The korean language and the turkish language are settled in the same language tree of the Altaic-mongol languages. They are different branches in this tree but somehow related….like hungarian and finnish language which are also far related with the turkish language.

So, enough chitty chat. Hope my informations helped!

cheers

Alan