Daily Sabah:
In his first visit abroad in 2018, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has put efforts to minimize Turkey’s security vulnerability against external air threats at the center of his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace where the two leaders are expected to discuss the future of the joint Eurosam consortium, an inter-governmental project that will develop defense systems, including air and missile defense systems.
The expected agreement will enhance and speed up Turkey’s initiatives to develop its domestic air defense industry in the long run and will also ensure to meet its short-term needs in air defense capability, particularly in long-range air defense missiles, Turan Oğuz, a defense industry researcher said. On Nov. 8, Turkey signed the joint Eurosam consortium agreement with the Italian and French defense ministers in an inter-governmental agreement at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
The project with Eurosam, the producer of surface-to-air missile platform/terrain (SAMP/T) and Aster 30 long-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems, will strengthen defense ties between the three countries in general and particularly in air and missile defense.
