Senior U.S. officials interviewed by TurDef said that bilateral relations are on the way to improvement in many areas. U.S. officials paid special attention to the 155 mm ammunition production line, which will be established in Texas. According to officials who elaborated on the production amount statements previously made by Pentagon spokesman Jeff Jurgensen, three separate production lines will be established here, each with a monthly production capacity of 10 thousand shell bodies. Thus, 30,000 projectile shell bodies will be produced per month when completed. U.S. General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems will operate these lines. The Turkish company will be responsible for the installation of the lines. Currently, these production lines are being established by Turkish engineers in the state of Texas. The first production line will be put into operation in April, the second in the same year, and the third in 2025.
In response to TurDef’s question, officials stated that this was not a technology transfer and said, “The company will install the lines and provide maintenance training to the local staff.”
Underlining that the U.S. has recently produced a total of 14 thousand units of 155 mm ammunition per month, officials pointed out that when this production capacity comes into play, the U.S. will produce 100 thousand shell bodies per month, 30 thousand of which will be supplied from the line to be established by a Turkiye-based company.
When asked why this company, whose name was not disclosed, was preferred, the authorities explained that it was preferred because of the “cutting edge” technology that the company brought to the production world. Officials said, “The Turkish defence industry is truly impressive. There are a lot of great companies that do good manufacturing and cutting-edge manufacturing. They produce products that can work with NATO. The United States is excited to work with Turkiye on these issues.”
Officials stated that the progress made in purchasing and modernising F-16s was the first step and expected the rest to follow. U.S. officials said that many parties, including Lockheed Martin, were involved in the programme for installing aircraft modernisation kits and producing new aircraft. Authorities did not state, but the modernisation model used in the past may be preferred once again. If so, sending the kits to Turkiye may be seen as the most cost-effective and fastest method since Turkiye has the ability to modernise such aircraft.
Officials did not express an opinion on Turkiye’s approach to the F-35 procurement issue and Turkiye’s interest in Eurofighter aircraft but merely stated that this issue belonged to Turkiye’s will.
U.S. Ambassador to Ankara, Jeff Flake, has written an article for Deseret News highlighting the importance of a “strong relationship with Turkiye’’ in the U.S. defence supply chain and NATO’s strength, stating it as “America’s interest’’.
