ANKARA [MENL] -- Israel and Turkey have reached agreement for the Israeli
upgrade of 170 Turkish main battle tanks.The agreement is for the state-owned Israel Military Industries to
modernize M-60A1 tanks for $668 million. The price was said to have been a
significant reduction from IMI's original offer of $1 billion.Officials said the agreement marks the largest weapons deal between
Israel and Turkey. They said they expect Turkey to expand the project to
include the upgrade of hundreds of additional tanks.Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit announced the award to IMI on
Friday after a two-hour meeting by the Defense Industry Executive Committee.
Ecevit said rival bids did not meet Turkish military requirements in terms
of technical capabilities and logistics.
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