Article Posted on : - Apr 30, 2014

The C-235 maritime patrol aircraft of Turkish Navy. An official photo

PARIS (BNS): French defence firm Thales has announced the delivery of the sixth and final CN-235 maritime patrol aircraft it has modified under the MELTEM II programme, to Turkey before this summer.

At a ceremony held at the Topel (Turkey) naval airbase on April 28, Thales officially handed over the delivery certificate for the aircraft to the Chief of Staff of the Turkish Navy.

Thales had signed the MELTEM II deal with Turkey in 2002 under which, it was to deliver six modified CN-235 units to the Turkish Navy for maritime patrol and three to the Coast Guard for maritime surveillance.

All the modified CN-235s are based on the Thales-built state-of-the-art AMASCOS (Airborne Maritime Situation & Control System).

To this day, five of the six aircraft have been delivered to this standard, with the sixth set for delivery before the summer. This follows the three maritime surveillance aircraft which were sent to the Turkish coastguards last year, Thales said.

The MELTEM II programme also includes the provision of additional AMASCOS systems to the Turkish Navy, to be integrated on 10 of its ATR72 aircraft.

Designed around a latest-generation integrated tactical command system, the AMASCOS solution ties together multiple sensors -- radar, FLIR, ESM, acoustic system, AIS, MAD, SLAR radar, IR/UV scanner -- to detect, identify and track threats, maintain real-time tactical situation awareness, manage NATO and national tactical datalinks and deploy onboard weapon systems, according to Thales.