As of late yesterday, nothing has been decided about whether the validity of a bid by Raytheon [RTN] and Lockheed Martin [LMT] will be extended for Turkey’s potential multi-billion long-range air and missile defense system (T-LORAMIDS).
Raytheon and Lockheed Martin offered the Patriot system.
Turkey asked companies to extend their bid periods while it considers the program, and the negotiations with the China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp. (CPMIEC) for its HQ-9 system.
Essentially, it will be the U.S. government’s decision whether to extend the bid and for how long, because T-LORAMIDS is a Foreign Military Sales bid, according to a source.
Photo: Raytheon
For its part, a Raytheon spokesman said the company is still reviewing the request and has not made a decision on extending its offer.
Another bidder, the Franco-Italian Eurosam consortium, had offered the SAMP/T system.
NATO allies and the United States have been pressing Turkey–a NATO member–to reconsider its plan to buy the Chinese system, particularly since it would not be interoperable with NATO missile defense systems.