Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-09-29
Launchers for China's FD-2000 missiles. (Internet photo) |
Turkey's
Defense Industry Executive Committee has chosen the Chinese-built FD-2000, the
export version of the HQ-9 surface-to-air missile, as its new air defense
system under a contract worth US$4 billion on Sept. 26, reports our sister
newspaper Want Daily.
The choice
was made from a list of missile systems including the US Patriot, Russian S-400
and the French SAMP-T. One of the major allies of the United States in the
Middle East, Turkey will become the first NATO member to introduce a Chinese
air defense system for its military. Turkey considered that
medium-to-long-range missiles such as the FD-2000 are more suitable than the
short-range Patriot for preventing ballistic missiles and aircraft from Syria
striking the country's interior.
The FD-2000
is able to intercept 16 targets at once at a range of 200 kilometers while the
range of Patriot missiles is only 160 kilometers, according to Li Jie, a
Chinese military analyst. Facing the prospect that Syria's civil war could
cross into Turkish territory, the Patriot surface-to-air missiles deployed by
other NATO members to the country's border regions are evidently considered
insufficient, yet the purchase of the FD-2000 may create tensions between
Turkey and its NATO allies.
NATO will
not allow the two air defense systems to be used in combination by the Turkish
military in order to prevent the possibility that China could steal critical
intelligence regarding the Patriot system. This is also the primary reason the
United States had warned Turkey not to buy any weapons system from country that
is not a NATO member.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.