Page 14 - Australian Defence Magazine September 2019
P. 14

NEWS REVIEW
INDUSTRY UPDATE
The future of Turkey’s industry contribution to the F-35 program is unclear.
Turkey kicked out of F-35 program
to receive the Patriot air defence system.” The White House statement also said that Ankara’s decision ‘undermines’ NATO and Turkish interoperability with the alliance, although the US will “continue to coop- erate with Turkey extensively, mindful of constraints due to the presence of the S-400
system in Turkey.”
The future of Turkey’s industry contribu-
tion to the F-35 program is unclear. Turkish companies make 937 parts for each F-35.
Relations between Turkey and Greece, an EU and NATO member, remain tense over access to natural gas deposits around Cyprus. As ADM revealed in January, Greece has shown interest in purchasing RAN’s decom- missioned Adelaide-class frigates to bolster its presence in the eastern Mediterranean.
Turkey once had hopes of joining the Eu- ropean Union, but the repeated stalling of talks suggests that there is a glass ceiling to Turkey’s integration into Western alliance structures. The US move is the latest fissure to open as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan takes the country in a more authoritarian direction and re-orients Ankara’s foreign policy outlook towards Russia.
However, the ruling AKP party was re- cently defeated in a mayoral election re-run in Istanbul, the country’s largest city and the hometown of Erdogan (who was once mayor himself).
Russia has reportedly offered to sell Tur- key Su-35 fighter jets as a replacement.
EWEN LEVICK | SYDNEY
THE US has removed Turkey from the global F-35 program after the country took delivery of Russia’s S-400 air defence sys- tem last week.
In a statement, White House spokeswom- an Stephanie Grisham said that the fighter jet ‘cannot co-exist’ with the Russian tech- nology for fears that data about the jets’ ra- dar profile will make its way back to Russia.
“Unfortunately, Turkey’s decision to pur- chase Russian S-400 air defence systems renders its continued involvement with the
F-35 impossible. The F-35 cannot coexist with a Russian intelligence collection plat- form that will be used to learn about its ad- vanced capabilities,” Grisham said.
The F-35 cannot coexist with a Russian intelligence collection platform
Grisham’s statement also indicated that US officials had been busy behind the scenes, offering to move Turkey to the ‘front of the line’ to receive Patriot air defence systems.
“The US has been actively working with Turkey to provide air defence solutions to meet its legitimate air defence needs, and this administration has made multiple of- fers to move Turkey to the front of the line
Civmec hits mega facility milestone
CIVMEC achieved a significant milestone in the construction of its purpose-built as- sembly and maintenance hall in Hender- son,WA.
The mega structure has been rising from the ground since October last year, when Prime Minister Scott Morrison was onsite to witness the erection of the first steel for the new facility.
When complete, the facility will deliver a new resource to the Australian maritime landscape and significantly enhancing the capability of Civmec’s existing facilities available at the Australian Marine Complex.
The 53,000 square metre, 18-storey high facility will be the largest under- cover modularisation and maintenance facility in Australia, with the capacity to house large vessels, including complete Air Warfare Destroyers, Frigates and
Offshore Patrol Vessels for construction or maintenance, as well as large integrat- ed modules for the Oil & Gas and Metals & Minerals sectors.
The building now stands 70 metres high, with the recent addition of the 27-metre-
The building now stands 70 metres high.
high bay structure which sits atop the ex- pansive main roof. The 600-tonne struc- ture, with a length of 130 metres and width of 40 metres, was securely lifted using hy- draulic strand jacks and placed with a just 20mm clearance point in several areas.
14 | September 2019 | www.australiandefence.com.au
CIVMEC
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