Turkey, the only NATO nation with a large Chinese arsenal in its military has called to raise military cooperation, they also jointly market their rockets and some of those rockets were battle tested against PKK guerrillas in northern Iraq in late 2007. I am surprise to see all those exchanges did not rise too much of a concern in Washington and elsewhere. Maybe, just maybe, there is a benefit being a member of NATO, if Iran would get its hands on a B611, oh boy.

Turkey, China to raise military cooperation

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=170574&bolum=100

Turkish Military Academies Commander Gen. Hasan Aksay who is in China, said Turkey and China should consider conducting joint military exercises: "Our talks should not remain limited to educational activities. We should think about joint military exercises."


In addition, China's Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Ge Zhenfeng said they expect to receive more military students from Turkey; since 1985, China has received 18 military delegations consisting of 200 people from Turkey. Turkey received 14 Chinese military delegations with more than 330 representatives in the same period, officials said.

Zhenfeng also said that he admires the Turkish military, "With its educational achievements and its combat capabilities, the Turkish military has made a deep impression on my mind," and added the Turkish military was exceptionally "disciplined." He also expressed his country's gratitude for Turkey's "one China" policy.

Aksay is expected to visit Shanghai today and leave China tomorrow.

25 March 2009, Wednesday
OSMAN EROL BEIJING

Photos of B611 and WS-2 long range Rockets in a Turkish military parade

Turkey, China jointly develop advanced rocket for Mideast market

WASHINGTON — China and Turkey have completed development of the B-611 rocket, a secret effort to supply artillery-based rockets to both countries as well as client states, particularly in the Middle East.
"We also have to consider a gray area, in which a couple of Chinese companies are now marketing artillery rockets that border on the edge of short-range ballistic missiles," said Richard Fischer, a leading U.S. expert on China's military. "The B-611 was developed in cooperation with Turkey, the WS-2."

The WS-2 is a Chinese rocket with a range of up to 180 kilometers. It is a variant of the Soviet-origin Frog-7. The B-611, with a range of 150 kilometers, was first displayed at China's International Aviation and Space Exhibition in 2004.

The B-611 does not violate any weapons-control regime. It has many of the properties of a guided missile and could be used by U.S. adversaries.

"The key advantage is that these are much cheaper to produce," Fischer told the American Enterprise Institute on July 11. "If you could put a terminally guided anti-ship warhead on the B-611, then you have the potential to sell [Venezuelan President] Hugo Chavez something that would give the American Navy something to think about."

Uzi Rubin, regarded as the father of Israel's missile defense program, said commercial off-the-shelf technology and components could be used to convert unguided rockets to accurate ballistic missiles. Rubin, who has written a report on the topic, cited the availability of onboard inertial and satellite navigation systems as well as software.

Turkish participation in the B-611 project has triggered concerns over non-proliferation in the Bush administration. But so far the administration has not expressed concern over the Chinese-Turkish project.