Aviation and Space Cluster Association SAHA İstanbul, which is Turkey’s most significant and Europe’s second – biggest industry cluster, has become the greatest industry cluster in Europe with the latest participant companies.

SAHA İstanbul has 816 companies and 22 universities operating in Defence, Aviation and Space Technologies.

SAHA İstanbul Secretary İlhami Keleş stated, “We were the second biggest cluster in the European Cluster Union after Airbus; our SAHA Istanbul cluster, together with the companies accepted to our board this month, has reached a size even bigger than Airbus’s “Aerospace Valley” in Toulouse. We are now the largest cluster in Europe. The local Defence industry is rising rapidly in the international field, and as SAHA Istanbul, we contribute greatly to this development. The fact that SAHA Istanbul is the biggest cluster in Europe will take Turkey’s Defence, Aviation and Space Technologies to a stronger position.”

Evaluating the geography where Turkey is located and emphasizing the importance of the defence industry, Keleş continued as follows:

“Our domestic defence industry is the systems that are used in Syria, Iraq, Libya, the Eastern Mediterranean, Karabakh and Ukraine, which are followed by the world with articles on. Our unmanned aviation vehicles’ success is unquestionable, but as SAHA İstanbul, all of our supported members are carrying out successful projects at world standards. The Turkish defence industry is developing very rapidly and important projects in areas such as ammunition technologies, electronic warfare, software technologies and similar industrial capabilities to land vehicles and naval platforms.”