Turkey's Peace Eagle AEW&C to enter into the service

[HRK]

Turkey's first Boeing 737 Peace Eagle Airborne Early Warning and Control Aircraft (AEW&C) will formally enter service following a ceremony on 21 February, the Turkish Air Force announced on 31 January.

The country chose to purchase four 737-700-based AEW&C aircraft as far back as 2000, but the USD1.5 billion programme is now lagging its original 2007 delivery date by about seven years.

Boeing is the prime contractor for the programme, with local work under a USD500-million offset package being conducted by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), Aselsan, Haselsan, and Mikes.

A second aircraft is scheduled to be delivered to the air force mid-year, once its test flights are completed.

A range of problems have struck the Peace Eagle programme, including issues with the integration of radars and other military electronic systems. It is understood that Boeing will pay Turkey about USD600 million as compensation for the delays.

It is unclear, however, to what extent Boeing is responsible for the schedule slippage. Similar delays hit Australia's 737-700 Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft, but not South Korea's 737-700 Peace Eye AEW&C aircraft.

TAI's first plane was delivered by Boeing in March 2006, and made its first flight in July 2008.

Turkey's own order for the aircraft was held up by a corruption investigation after an initial downselect of the 737 in 2000 and subsequent tender signing. The Turkish Parliament's Corruption Investigation Committee examined claims the state had lost USD180 million in the procurement of AEW&C systems. However, the investigation was abandoned, and the government approved the purchase of four AEW&Cs in 2003.

Meanwhile, the Mavi Marmara incident in 2010 aggravated the programme's delays by making Turkey reluctant to use Israeli-made electronics such as Elta's electronic support measures (ESM). These were eventually delivered, but relations between the two countries remain frosty.

Turkey's Peace Eagle AEW&C aircraft to finally enter service - IHS Jane's 360

 

[madmusti]

 

[T-123456]

Finally,they should give two more as a compensation.

 

[HRK]

HAVELSAN participates in acquisition of Peace Eagle AEW&C as the sole in-country subcontractor of BOEING for the Mission Computing Segment (MCS) and Ground Support Segment (GSS).

HAVELSAN developed Turkish unique software modules for mission processor, tactical display, communication, ESM systems and man-machine interfaces. HAVELSAN also realise the test and integration of these software to the 737 AEW&C aircraft.

By the Integrated Product Team (IPT) approach, cross-functional, semi-autonomous, co-located working teams manage all aspects of the program. HAVELSAN participates all the engineering processes throughout the program, starting from the system analysis till the end of system test and evaluation. In the scope of the program, HAVELSAN develops, modifies and integrate 12 software modules (CSCIs).

The main responsibilities of HAVELSAN are:

• System Analysis and Design of Turkish unique modifications,
• Mission Computing Segment software Turkish unique design, development, integration and testing,
• Ground Support Segment software Turkish unique design, development, integration and testing,
• Hardware and software integration for the Ground Support Segment, which is composed of the Software Support Center, Mission Support Center and Mission Simulator,
• Software Development Laboratories (SDL) and System Integration Laboratories (SIL) operation in Turkey,
• System test and evaluation,
• Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) for the MCS and GSS throughout the service life of the system.

HAVELSAN