Turkey has awarded the Franco-Italian consortium Eurosam and local firms Aselsan and Roketsan a contract for the definition study of the future Turkish Long-Range Air and Missile Defence System (LORAMIDS). The contract award was made during a meeting of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.

Established in June 1989 as a joint venture of MBDA and Thales, Eurosam is the industrial prime contractor and system design authority for the Future Surface-to-Air Family of Aster missile systems.

Scheduled to last 18 months, the study aims at preparing the development and production contract for a future system meeting the operational requirements of the Turkish Air Force. The contract was awarded by the SSM (the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries), which is responsible for acquisitions under the President of Republic of Turkey.

The contract follows on from the Heads of Agreement signed in July 2017 and the Letter of Intent signed by the French, Italian and Turkish defence ministers on 8th November 2017.

The study paves the way for the launch of a three-country joint long-range air and missile defence programme designed to counter stealth aircraft, UAVs, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. The future system is scheduled to be ready by the middle of the next decade.

The system is expected to meet three countries’ basic operational needs and it will guarantee Turkey has full employment autonomy and will allow a sovereign choice of integration level within NATO. The joint development activity is expected to support Turkey’s indigenous air and missile development programme in addition to opening up prospects for exports and longer-term co-operation of Turkey, Italy and France.

Last year, Turkey also agreed to acquire Russian S-400 air defence systems in a $2.5bn deal involving two batteries to be delivered by Moscow and a further two to be produced in Turkey.