“National Technologies and New Investments Collective Opening and Promotion Ceremony” was held at Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. Facilities in Kahramankazan.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar, Chief of General Staff General Yaşar Güler, Land Forces Commander General Musa Avsever, Naval Forces Commander Admiral Adnan Özbal, Air Forces Commander General Hasan Küçükakyüz, Head of Defense Industry Prof. Dr. İsmail Demir and Deputy Minister of National Defense Muhsin Dere attended the ceremony.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pointed out at the ceremony that the root of the defense industry, which is not a new concept for the Turkish Nation, took place in history.
Stating that the Huns produced double-curved bows with high range and impact power in the 3rd century BC, the President said that works were carried out in many areas also in our history, from the Ghaznavids’ armoring the war elephants to the Seljuks’ construction of the navy.
“Our National Combat Aircraft will roll-out of the Hangar and Show Itself to the World in 2023”
Stating that the Heavy Class Attack Helicopter project, an upgraded version of the ATAK attack helicopter, which has been exported, continues, Erdoğan said, “We are starting to deliver our first original helicopter, Gökbey, this year, entirely with the sweat and wisdom of our engineers and technicians. Anka’s higher model Aksungur armed unmanned aerial vehicles took their place in the sky. Together with Bayraktar TB2 and Akıncı TİHAs, our product richness is increasing and our place in the world is getting stronger in the field of armed unmanned aerial vehicles. Our biggest expectation from TAI is to take us to a level that can compete with the world in aircraft technology.”
Expressing that the deliveries of the Hürkuş trainer aircraft continue and the production of Turkey’s first jet-powered aircraft Hürjet trainer continues, Erdoğan used the following expressions:
“Now it’s time for our National Combat Aircraft, which is one of the most important defense industry projects of our country. The engineering center we gathered to open will hopefully be the heart of our National Combat Aircraft Project. Our 2,300 engineers who will take part in the project will carry out their work in this center equipped with the latest technological systems. Hopefully, we will take our National Combat Aircraft out of the hangar in 2023 and show it to the whole world. This step, which we plan to realize as soon as possible without delaying its first flight, continues rapidly, and our National Combat Aircraft, which will take its first flight in 2025, will take its place in the skies in 2029 as the striking force of our Air Force, after the test and qualification processes.”
Erdoğan stated that while developing the aircraft, they did not neglect the preparations that will enable domestic and national production of its subsystems, components and materials.
Erdoğan continued his words as follows:
“Today, we are bringing our country’s composite manufacturing facility, where composite materials, which are very important for the aviation industry, will be produced and where approximately a thousand people will be employed. This center, which is Turkey’s largest and the world’s fourth-largest composite facility under one roof, has the capacity to meet 2% of the global air structures composite market. Today, we are putting our maintenance and repair center into service, where the parts of our aircraft will be maintained, repaired and refurbished. This place will meet an important need of the industry with more than 500 engineers who will work within its body.”
“We are Increasing the Investments of TAI, the Heart of Space Studies, in This Field”
Stating that seven satellites, four of which are communication and three are observation, are currently operating in space, Erdoğan said, “The journey of our TÜRKSAT 5B satellite, which was built for the first time with the contribution of local and national elements, continues in space. We are increasing the investments of TAI in this field, which is the heart of our country’s space studies, where many satellite projects that will meet different needs are carried out with TÜRKSAT 6A, our all domestic and national satellite. We are also launching a new center that will support the current operating space systems integration and test center. Our Space Systems Engineering Center, which we will open today and where more than 700 engineers will work, will make a very important contribution to our country’s space travel.” made its assessment.
“We Will Open New Investments in TAI”
Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar started his speech by expressing his excitement and pride in the opening of the new facilities, which he stated will make significant contributions in the fields of defense, aviation, and space.
Stating that these facilities will further strengthen the move towards locality and nationality in the field of technology, defense and, security and that they will carry Turkey to a higher class in the field of high technology, Akar pointed out that digitalization, artificial intelligence, and cyber applications are rapidly shaping the world of today and the future.
Reminding that even infantry rifles were outsourced in the past, Akar said:
“We have reached the level of designing, constructing, manufacturing and exporting our National Infantry Rifles, smart precision ammunition, Indigenous Naval Artillery, MLRAs, Storm howitzers, UAV/SİHA/TİHAs, ATAK helicopters, frigates, and other types of warships. In the operations carried out successfully in the country and across the border; The contribution of these weapon systems, which are produced with domestic and national means, is clearly seen in the resolute protection of our rights and interests in the Aegean, Mediterranean and Cyprus, and in the successful fulfillment of the tasks undertaken by the TAF in many geographies, especially in Azerbaijan and Libya. The effectiveness of our weapon systems, produced in NATO standards and tested in operations, has attracted the attention of the whole world, the demand for our domestic and national defense industry products has increased day by day, and the “Made in Turkey” brand has risen to the position it deserves in the international market. The most concrete example of this is that our country broke a record in the field of defense and aerospace in 2021 by exporting approximately 3.3 billion dollars.”
“These Facilities Will Be Seeds for the Future”
Head of Defense Industry Prof. Dr. İsmail Demir, in his speech, said, “I would like to thank you for honoring the opening of our new center and facilities that will make significant contributions to our National Technology Move initiated by our President.”
“It is a fact that the Turkish defense industry has achieved certain successes in many fields today” said Prof. Dr. Demir continued his words as follows:
“However, we always say that Turkey needs to go a long way towards becoming a global power, and achieve great successes in the targets set before us.”
Prof. Dr. İsmail Demir said that when they graduated as an aircraft engineer 40 years ago, there were not many fields in which they could work in Turkey, and few of his friends were able to enter TUSAŞ.
Expressing that many aircraft engineers had to go abroad for this reason, Prof. Dr. İsmail Demir reminded that many people had to work in different fields.
Prof. Dr. İsmail Demir continued as follows:
“But what was the reason for this? It was not a will, a vision, a project. In fact, when the F-16 assemblies were finished, there were discussions about “What are we going to do with this TAI?” But today, thankfully, we see that our aircraft engineers do not have a problem finding a job. From the days when we graduated as an engineer many years ago, when we thought we would work even if we had a project to design and build an airplane, now there are many fields where all of our friends can work as aeronautical engineers, like other engineers, and we say to these friends: If something is man-made, we will work harder. we do better, let’s believe it. Thankfully, we see this will, this determination in our youth.”
6 HÜRKUŞ To Be Delivered in February
TUSAŞ General Manager Prof. Dr. Temel Kotil announced that the production of HÜRKUŞ for the Turkish Air Force has been completed and that 6 HÜRKUŞ will be delivered in February.
Kotil said, “Together with all our stakeholders, 3,000 people will work to make MMU. We have invested 700 million dollars in the last 5 years. We are in many countries from Malaysia to Pakistan, from Germany to France. The sun is not setting on our company right now.”
2,300 people will work in the Engineering Center of the National Combat Aircraft Project.
Built according to the needs of engineers, the building has an area of 65 thousand square meters and includes a sports center, dining hall and autonomous library.
Turkey’s largest Composite Production Building and Auxiliary Facilities, which was opened, consists of 19 blocks, including the main production, paint shop and auxiliary buildings.
150 engineers and 850 technicians will work at the facility.
The Space Systems Engineering Center, which was established for the design activities and hardware production in the field of space and will employ a total of 718 people, includes class 10 thousand and class 100 thousand clean rooms, hardware and software laboratories, a conference hall, and other facilities.
At the Factory Level Component Maintenance and Repair Center, design and production processes that will ensure the nationality of all kinds of vehicles and equipment to be used in the operation of aircraft will be carried out.
