Turks To Help Britain Built It's Type 26 Frigate

News from the 3 day Inward Mission from Turkey Naval sector organised by UKTI DSO has started to leak.

It was meant a way to promote business to business relations between Turkey and UK, especially on naval projects. I have already reported about it here and here.

The first informations surfacing on the media however caught me on the wrong foot. According to the article published on 14 Feburary 2010 on Wall Street Journal, Turkey and UK may work on the Britain's next generation frigate Type 26:

LONDON—The U.K. and Turkey are negotiating a military pact that would see the two European powers take part in joint exercises and share expertise, a person familiar with the matter said.
The agreement underscores how the U.K., Europe's most active military, is eager to work more closely with allied militaries amid budget cuts. In October, the British government announced cuts to the military budget of 7.5% over the next four years.

An accompanying Security and Defense Strategy Review placed great emphasis on alliances and partnerships to "enhance capability."

Britain hopes to have completed its memorandum of understanding with Turkey by July, this person said. Much of the deal will hinge on joint exercises. For instance, the U.K. could train helicopter pilots in Turkey, whose hot and mountainous terrain replicates Afghanistan.

Further down the line, the two countries are looking at cooperating on equipment programs.

One "possibility" is that the Turks would help build Britain's Type 26 Frigate, a type of naval ship due to enter service in the early 2020s. Britain also wants to offer more places to train Turkish officers at its Royal College of Defence Studies and the Turks will invite British personnel to their training courses.

A spokesman for the Turkish defense ministry couldn't be reached for comment Sunday.

Well that would be a first. I know that parts of British warships are sometimes constructed at foreign yards for cost saving measures and when I first about the Inward Mission, I thought that UK would offer help to Turkey in warship construction, not the other way around.

But may be times are changing.