Turkey Produces 52.1 Percent of Its Defense Needs Locally

Turkey domestically produced 52.1 percent of the equipment its military purchased in 2010, exceeding the government’s target to meet half of the Turkish Armed Forces’ (TSK) defense needs from within the country last year, the Defense Industry Manufacturers Association (SASAD) has said.

Nearly 46 percent of Turkey’s defense needs were met at home in 2009, up from only 25 percent at the beginning of the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) first term in 2003. According to the latest data related to the Turkish defense industry available at the association’s website, defense product manufacturers earned a total revenue of $2.73 billion and spent $666 million for research and development activities last year, up from $2.31 billion and $505 million, respectively, in 2009.

SASAD’s figures are the same of those announced by the Undersecretariat for the Defense Industry (SSM). According to SASAD, Turkey exported some $670 million worth of defense equipment in 2009, and this volume declined by 5 percent to slightly more than $634 million last year. The SSM, through which the country’s civil aviation exports flow, together with its defense exports, aims to bring the volume in these two areas up from $900 million in 2010 to $1 billion this year. To that end, Turkey has decided to launch three more promotional offices in Europe, Central Asia and the Gulf.

According to information Today’s Zaman earlier received from Defense Ministry sources, Turkey has already received an offer from Qatar to establish an office inside the country’s General Staff headquarters, while the remaining two offices will be opened in Belgium and either Azerbaijan or Turkmenistan. The first such office was opened in Washington, D.C., in November of last year, and retired Maj. Gen. Maurice Lee McFann was brought in as the head of the office in the US capital. In February, a Turkish defense company secured a $600 million deal –Turkey’s largest single sale in defense industry exports — in Malaysia. Under the deal, Turkish FNSS will sell 257 armored carrier frames for the Pars 8×8 to Malaysia. The 8×8 Pars armored vehicle will be redesigned by Turkish and Malaysian engineers, and the vehicles will be produced locally in the Southeast Asian nation. Last week was also, according to Minister of Defense Vecdi Gönül, a milestone for Turkey’s defense industry because a $3.5 billion helicopter deal won by American aircraft manufacturer Sikorsky is expected to help Turkey to become an arms industrial base. Under that deal, Sikorsky will work with Turkish companies to jointly produce 109 choppers for Turkey. The deal envisages the state-owned Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) as the main producer of certain parts of the helicopter, including the engine and body, as well as some software. The deal was for the production of 109 choppers, but this number can be raised to as high as 600, Gönül told a press conference on April 21.

27 April 2011
SOURCE: TODAY’S ZAMAN