Turkey Expecting New Bids To Renew Missile Deal

Turkey has asked for new bids to rival a controversial multi-billion dollar missile deal offer by a US-blacklisted Chinese company, a government official was quoted as saying by the Hurriyet daily.

"We have asked other companies to present revised bids but that has not yet happened," secretary of state for defense industries Murad Bayar said.

Turkey's decision to enter negotiations with China Precision Machinery Export-Import Corporation (CPMIEC) for its first long-range anti-missile system has been bothering the US.

CPMIEC, which makes the HQ-9 missile system, is under US sanctions for selling arms and missile technology to Iran and Syria.

The Turkish move also irritated its allies in NATO, which has said missile systems within the transatlantic military alliance must be compatible with each other.

CPMIEC beat competition from a US partnership of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, Russia's Rosoboronexport, and Italian-French consortium Eurosam for the deal, estimated at $4 billion (2.9 billion euros).

Bayar said in an interview with Turkey's private NTV television that these companies had until January 31 to submit new bids but that the talks with CPMIEC were continuing.

"If there is a new proposal we will evaluate it and if we are unable to reach an agreement with the first company, we will look to the next," he said.