IDEF 2017 will take its rightful place in history as an occasion for Turkish defence industry’s show of strength. However, with respect to products displayed and agreements signed, STM is going through one of the most important periods in its history. Raising expectations through postings in social media on the eve of IDEF, STM captured attention with its recent endeavours. In this respect, we interviewed with General Manager Davut Yılmaz to evaluate IDEF and elaborate on the vision of STM. 

C4Defence: How does STM evaluate the fair?
STM General Manager Davut Yılmaz: On behalf of STM, I can argue that this fair stands out in terms of the attention we draw as compared to previous IDEFs we participated.  

C4Defence: Can we say that STM’s current communication style aims at spreading its voice to larger audiences? 
Davut Yılmaz: Yes, you can; because STM’s approach in recent years is based on developing new and different products, while taking into account future trends. Let us call this “innovative.” The reason is that, at present, we are displaying six products; three autonomous systems, one micro satellite, one submarine concept and one frigate concept. Two of them are reserved for naval platforms while the rest is used in different areas. All these products are newly introduced in Turkey. They have not been produced before; some of them were only contemplations at the concept level. Therefore, here we see the result of an innovative approach. 

C4Defence: You are introducing products previously unseen in Turkey. Then, what is your target for UAVs? 
Davut Yılmaz: Looking at the products we put on display, all except the naval platforms incorporate common capabilities. What we basically perform is to develop autonomous systems utilising fusion and artificial intelligence (AI). When you obtain this capability, you can integrate autonomous systems into air platforms, land platforms or surface and underwater platforms. There are no obstacles against realising these. Nevertheless, the basic capability must somehow be an AI-supported mechanism to make fusion possible. This is what have done for drones, and what we will do for satellites. What you see in drones at the moment, you shall see them on underwater or surface tactical platforms in time. Therefore, we have a target not specifically for UAVs but for autonomous systems.