Turkey Set to Develop Its Own Missile Defense Shield

Turkey has officially abandoned its plans to purchase foreign-made parts for its missile defense shield for $3.4 billion and decided to develop its own project.

Turkey has officially confirmed it had abandoned the $3.4 billion tender for parts for its missile defense system due to its decision to develop a domestic-built missile defense project, the Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

The $4 billion tender was initially launched by the Turkish government in 2009. In September 2013, China’s CPMIEC won the tender with a price of $3.4 billion. Other countries participating in the bidding process were US Raytheon & Lockheed Martin, Franco-Italian Eurosam and Russia’s Rosoboronexport.

Unlike its competitors, the Chinese company said some of the missile systems would be manufactured in Turkey, and its technologies would be passed to Turkey. However, the sides failed to agree on all aspects of Turkey’s involvement in the project.

In addition, after China won the tender NATO strengthened its pressure on Ankara.

"After detailed discussions, on November 13 Turkey decided to abandon the current project and develop its own national missile defense system with the use of its domestic resources," the statement read.

Earlier, Turkish media reported that Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had already signed a decree on the development of Turkish long-range missile systems.