Turkey Launches Assault Boat Competition

Turkish officials today launched a new competition to acquire 10 new assault boats, a program dubbed the “Turkish-type assault boat” after an official RFI was issued in July.

 “This will be a major contest for mostly local shipyards but there will be a foreign contest, too,” one official said on Monday. “The design and manufacturing will be local, hence the tag ‘Turkish-type assault boat.’”

The program will be managed by STM, a government-owned defense industry engineering and consultation company. STM, under authorization from the procurement agency, the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries, had carried out feasibility studies for the assault boat program from 2008 to 2010, according to Defense News.

Foreign companies will be asked to bid for main propulsion and steering systems.