South Africa has offered to transfer military technology to Turkey in a bid to get ahead of competitors in a $1,5-billion tender for 91 attack helicopters for the army.
”There would be a high level of sharing in transfer of technology and intellectual property rights”, South African Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin told a press conference here late on Wednesday to promote the Rooivalk attack helicopter.
”That applies to any programme we are involved in with Turkey, not only the Rooivalk,” he said.
European and United States weapons suppliers offer high-end defence products, but often refuse to share manufacturing information to buyers.
The Turkish tender requires offset agreements for the domestic manufacturing of 40 to 50% of the weapons and state-owned Denel Aviation, which produces the Rooivalk, said it would have no difficulty meeting such a requirement.
”Denel has expertise in transferring technology and erecting manufacturing plants anywhere in the world, which is what we would do for Turkey, if such a requirement exists,” Denel CEO Shaun Liebenberg said in a written statement.
Turkey was interested in the Rooivalk in the 1990s, but was rebuffed by former president Nelson Mandela’s administration, which refused to sell weapons to countries waging war against separatists within their own borders.
The Turkish army has been fighting a bloody rebellion by Kurdish rebels in the country’s south-east for the past 22 years.
South African officials stressed however that the country’s policy toward Turkey had changed under Mandela’s successor, Thabo Mbeki.
”If there is a partnership between South Africa and Turkey, the equipment would be subject solely to Turkish policies,” Erwin said.
Apart from Denel, Turkey has also collected bids from the European Eurocopter consortium, Italy’s Agusta and Russia’s Kamov.
A decision is expected at the end of July. – Sapa-AFP