The 8th Teknokent Defense Industry Cluster (TSSK) Project Market and Cooperation Summit, which enables the capabilities developed in the Turkish defense industry to meet with the entire ecosystem, was recently held at METU Culture and Congress Center.
“OUR COUNTRY HAS NO LONGER BECOME AN ACTOR IN THE DEFENSE INDUSTRY, BUT NOT A MARKET”
In his speech here, Haluk Görgün said that it is not possible to talk about economic power without industry, and economic and political independence without the defense industry.
Pointing out that the defense industry is an important part of industrialization and development as a whole, Görgün stated that the defense industry is one of the most important sectors of the country with its unique products, exports, main contractors, subcontractors, SMEs, research institutions and universities. Görgün said, “Today, our defense products and services are successfully delivered to both our security forces and the armed forces of friendly and allied countries in different geographies. Our country has become an actor, not a market, in the defense industry.” said.
“WE ARE CLOSER EVERY DAY TO THE GOAL OF BEING AMONG THE 10 MOST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES”
Emphasizing that their biggest goal is “fully independent Turkey” in the defense industry, Görgün made the following evaluations:
“We continue to work tirelessly to achieve this goal together with our wide ecosystem. Within the framework of the Turkey Century vision, we are getting closer day by day to our country’s goal of becoming one of the 10 most developed countries in the world’s defense industry. We can say that the world follows our defense industry products with interest. One of the important elements of the global balance of power, Turkey has always been in favor of peace and cooperation. As the Presidency, we aim to advance the talent and knowledge gained by the Turkish defense industry in the last 20 years by developing cooperation with friendly and allied countries.
We want to establish lifelong relationships, not one-time, to meet the needs of our friends and allies and solve their problems. We believe that economic relations established with friendly countries also positively support Türkiye’s image. “I wholeheartedly believe that as long as we continue with the same determination and determination, we will be one of the world’s leading countries in the defense industry in the next 10 years.”
Görgün stated that they are rapidly continuing their efforts to develop sub-industries and SMEs operating in the sector and to increase their technological depth and competitiveness in order to achieve their goals, and gave information about the support programs they implement for this purpose.
“WE WILL CONTINUE OUR WORK TO INCREASE COOPERATION”
Haluk Görgün said, “As the Presidency, in order to strengthen the defense industry ecosystem and ensure sustainability; we will strengthen the education infrastructure in order to meet the need for qualified human resources, continue our support to sector companies, especially SMEs, and continue our efforts to increase exports and cooperation in the ecosystem.” he said.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE MOVE FROM ASELSAN
TSSK Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors Zeynep Öktem said that 105 members of the cluster contribute to the defense and aerospace industry with a focus on R&D.
Pointing out that its members have carried out more than 400 R&D projects, Öktem reported that the 2023 exports of its members exceeded 250 million dollars.
Taha Yücel, Deputy General Manager of ASELSAN Technology and Strategy Management, stated in his speech that they will be much more assertive in exports and will focus more on large-scale projects and high value-added businesses.
“WE ARE ALSO IMPLEMENTING A PROJECT WE CALL ASEL GPT”
Stating that digital transformation is an important issue and that we are experiencing an age of artificial intelligence, Yücel said:
“All our defense industry organizations are aware of this. Incorporating artificial intelligence into our processes as much as possible and becoming an assertive player in artificial intelligence is an important goal for our country, our industry and ASELSAN. Some technologies require serious scale, investment and infrastructure. It takes a lot of time to realize these. Software-based It is possible to achieve these with lower needs in technologies. Artificial intelligence is also such an opportunity. We should not stay away from it. ASELSAN has made artificial intelligence a part of all its processes. We are preparing an ASELSAN Artificial Intelligence Strategy. We are also implementing a project we call ASEL GPT. With such permanent projects, we will add value to our sector. “We are trying to give direction. Autonomous technologies are our important areas. We have a quantum laboratory. We will achieve significant success with our stakeholders.”
Source: AA
