Turkey terminates local jet program worth billions
By: Burak Ege Bekdil 4 days ago
9048
In 2015, the Turkish government committed to buying 50 TRJet aircraft that would have been based on the Dornier 328 aircraft, shown, and the Dornier 628. (Peter Muhly//AFP via Getty Images)
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey has quietly axed a multibillion-dollar program for the indigenous production of a regional jet with dual civilian and military use.
Procurement officials confirm the program has been aborted after a number of reviews proved that it had lost its “economic feasibility.”
“Costs and sales projections were not encouraging,” said an official familiar with the program.
In 2015, the Turkish government committed to buying 50 TRJet aircraft that would have been based on the Dornier 328 and 628 aircraft.
The program envisaged the eventual production of four models of the aircraft — a jet (TRJ328) and a turboprop (TR328) with 32 seats, and a jet (TRJ628) and a turboprop (TR628) with 60 to 70 seats.
Esen System Integration, the Turkish affiliate of U.S.-based Sierra Nevada Corporation, the company that would have developed and built the TRJet, aimed at only selling 500 to 1,000 TRJ328 aircraft. Similar sales numbers were projected for the TRJ628.
Turkey acquired intellectual property rights for the Dornier 328 and Dornier 628 from Sierra Nevada, which later signed a memorandum of understanding with Ankara-based STM — a state-controlled defense technologies company — for joint work on the regional jet program.
Industry sources say the termination of the TRJet program is bad news for the local industry as a whole.
https://www.defensenews.com/air/2017/10/27/turkey-terminates-local-jet-program-worth-billions/
By: Burak Ege Bekdil 4 days ago
9048
In 2015, the Turkish government committed to buying 50 TRJet aircraft that would have been based on the Dornier 328 aircraft, shown, and the Dornier 628. (Peter Muhly//AFP via Getty Images)
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey has quietly axed a multibillion-dollar program for the indigenous production of a regional jet with dual civilian and military use.
Procurement officials confirm the program has been aborted after a number of reviews proved that it had lost its “economic feasibility.”
“Costs and sales projections were not encouraging,” said an official familiar with the program.
In 2015, the Turkish government committed to buying 50 TRJet aircraft that would have been based on the Dornier 328 and 628 aircraft.
The program envisaged the eventual production of four models of the aircraft — a jet (TRJ328) and a turboprop (TR328) with 32 seats, and a jet (TRJ628) and a turboprop (TR628) with 60 to 70 seats.
Esen System Integration, the Turkish affiliate of U.S.-based Sierra Nevada Corporation, the company that would have developed and built the TRJet, aimed at only selling 500 to 1,000 TRJ328 aircraft. Similar sales numbers were projected for the TRJ628.
Turkey acquired intellectual property rights for the Dornier 328 and Dornier 628 from Sierra Nevada, which later signed a memorandum of understanding with Ankara-based STM — a state-controlled defense technologies company — for joint work on the regional jet program.
Industry sources say the termination of the TRJet program is bad news for the local industry as a whole.
https://www.defensenews.com/air/2017/10/27/turkey-terminates-local-jet-program-worth-billions/