Intelligence on line The US is stepping up restrictions on exports to Turkey in a bid to counter Erdogan’s activism in the Eastern Mediterranean and Libya. The Pentagon is also unhappy about Turkey’s recent treatment of the US company Sierra Nevada.
Stemming the flow
As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to push forward in Libya and the Eastern Mediterranean, the Pentagon and the State Department have started to take action. Despite the ‘special relationship’ between Erdogan and Donald Trump, two months before the U.S. election, military and security strategists are tightening restrictions on export licenses and the resale of US military equipment by Turkey. According to our sources, hardly any monitoring and intelligence equipment is getting through, at a time when Ankara needs state-of-the-art optronics, avionics, cameras and other equipment to ensure its forces can operate effectively in Syria and Libya, where a great deal of intelligence equipment is deployed. Baykar Makina‘s Bayraktar TB-2 drones, and soon the more sophisticated Akinci, are vital aids to Turkish operations in both theatres.
In a major blow to Turkey’s military operations and its exports, the US recently blocked the supply of American-built engines for the T-129 ATAK attack helicopter manufactured by the para-public Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI). The engines are manufactured in the United States by a joint venture between Honeywell and Rolls-Royce. The Turkish armed forces need the helicopters both for their military operations in the Middle East and to honour their own export contracts. In 2018, Ankara received a $1.5 billion order from the Pakistani armed forces for 30 T-129. The contract will be cancelled by Islamabad if Turkey cannot deliver. The Philippines is also waiting for 24 helicopters and is threatening to order aircraft directly from the US if the situation is not resolved.
Read more: https://www.intelligenceonline.com/government-intelligence/2020/09/09/washington-discreetly-puts-spanner-in-erdogan-s-works%2C109605041-evg?utm_source=INT&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=PROS_EDIT_RECAP&did=109627432&eid=561449