Turkey is to produce F-135 fighter engines in the Aegean sea city of Izmir as its Kale Group and U.S. Pratt & Whitney company laid the foundation of F-135 fighter engine factory in the western province on Saturday, Xinhua reported.
The semi-official Anatolia news agency reported that Turkish President Abdullah Gul attended the ground-breaking ceremony of the factory in the Aegean Free Zone in Izmir.
In the summer of 2010, Pratt & Whitney and Kale Havacilik San, A.S., (Kale Group) announced the formation of a joint venture partnership to produce aircraft engine components.
Under the terms of the joint venture, Kale will own 51 percent and Pratt & Whitney will own 49 percent of the joint venture company.
The report said that the joint venture will specialize in manufacturing hardware for the F-135 engine powering the F-35 Lightning II aircraft.
In the future, the partnership will expand to support highly complex metal fabrications and spare parts for Pratt & Whitney military fighter engine models F-100 and F-119, and military transport engine model F-117.