Turkey Closes Deal with Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems for Production of Six U-214 Platforms

The Turkish partners of the case include the country’s Undersecretariat for Defense Industries, as well as its the procurement agency. A 2 billion-euro submarine deal between Turkey and Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems to manufacture six U-214 platforms entered into effect Friday, according to officials from both sides of the venture.

“The two-billion-euro order for six U-214 submarine material packages placed with ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems by the Republic of Turkey has been activated with the receipt of the advance payment,” the company said in a statement. “As a longstanding partner and supplier to the Turkish Navy, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems can now begin executing the order. The order will contribute to securing employment at [ThyssenKrupp’s] Howaldswerke Deutsche Werft, or HDW, in Kiel, as well as at many subcontractors in Germany and Turkey, for the next 10 years.”

The Turkish partners of the case include the country’s Undersecretariat for Defense Industries, as well as its the procurement agency.
The two sides had been discussing loan conditions for the last six months until they reached a successful outcome in late June.

A major loan deal between German banks and the Turkish Treasury rescued the submarine contract on the last day of 2010, Turkish procurement officials said previously. The Turkey and HDW, an affiliate of the conglomerate ThyssenKrupp, originally signed the submarine contract in July 2009, but no price was disclosed at the time.

Turkey originally selected HDW against French and Spanish rivals in the summer of 2008, when officials said the German offer was worth 2.5 billion euros. Renegotiations over price and a clear road map for Turkish local participation led to a final agreement on a price reduction of over 500 million euros, bringing down the final cost to around 2 billion euros.

Under the Turkish modern submarine program, the non-nuclear vessels will be built at the Navy’s Gölcük Shipyard on the Marmara Sea coast near Istanbul. The submarine program will form Turkey’s largest defense modernization project after a planned $13 billion deal to buy 100 next-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Lightning II aircraft.

Ankara is hoping the new U-219 submarines will be in operation shortly after 2015.

July 1, 2011
SOURCE: Hürriyet Daily News