Turkey selects US ITT electronic warfare system for F-16s The Turkish Air Force Command has decided to equip 30 Lockheed Martin F-16s that it decided to buy last year with US ITT-make advanced integrated defensive electronic warfare suite (AIDEWS) systems, ending a long-standing dispute with the Undersecretariat for the Defense Industry (SSM), which had been insisting on the use of a locally developed system. Air Force Commander Gen. Aydoğan Babaoğlu recently informed the SSM, the country's major arms procurement body, about the force's choice of the ITT electronic warfare (EW) systems instead of the AN/ALQ-178(V)+ airborne radar warning and jamming system (Spews II Plus) currently produced by the partnership of BAE Systems North America and local ASELSAN-Mikes, under license in Turkey. There are plans to mount the Spews II Plus EW systems in 2010 on the Block 50 and 58 single-seated F-16s. The 30 AIDEWS are estimated to cost around $120 million and the ITT will provide offsets of $60 million.After several years of negotiations, in January 2003 the SSM signed a $228 million deal with local ASELSAN-Mikes and BAE Systems North America for the co-production of the Spews II Plus. The SSM had earlier insisted on the installation of the Spews II Plus EW systems on the 30 F-16s so that local development of the EW program would continue, contributing to the growth of local industry, and because the systems currently being produced for 58 F-16s were thought to be sufficient.
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http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=133651