President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, “We are among the 10 countries that can design, build and maintain their own warships. In the production of UAVs, SİHAs and TİHAs, we are now among the top 3 countries in the world.”
President Erdoğan spoke at the “National Technologies and New Investments Collective Opening and Promotion Ceremony” held at Kahramankazan Türk Aerospace Industries Inc. (TUSAŞ) facilities.
Starting his speech by greeting his audience, President Erdoğan said that he is very pleased to be at TAI on the occasion of the opening ceremony of very important facilities for the defense industry.
Remembering TUSAŞ Corporate Marketing and Communications Manager Serdar Demir with mercy, who lost his life in a tragic traffic accident about 2 months ago, Erdoğan noted that the late Serdar Demir was a young person who was distinguished by his hard work, honesty and love for his country and nation.
Stating that Demir made significant contributions to both the development of TAI's corporate vision and the breakthroughs it made abroad during his duties, President Erdoğan wished Demir's mercy from God and patience to his family, loved ones and colleagues at TAI.
Pointing out that the root of the war industry, which is not a new concept for the Turkish nation, goes back to prehistory, President Erdoğan said that in the 3rd century BC, the Huns manufactured double-curved bows with high range and impact power, and that in many areas from the Ghaznavids' war elephants to the navy building of the Seljuks, they are the same in history. He explained that studies were carried out as the first.
President Erdoğan reminded that the Ottoman Empire had developed shipyards since its early years, established the Artillery Corps before it was in the European armies, and activated institutions such as Baruthane, Tophane-i Amire and Tersane-i Amire.
Pointing out that the Ottoman Empire, which had been exporting many products, especially cannons, rifles, and ships, to the world for centuries, started to lose its leadership in this field after the 18th century, President Erdoğan said, “In the development move initiated under the leadership of Gazi Mustafa Kemal in the first years of the Republic, our defense industry took a special place. has place. In this period, we see that the efforts of entrepreneurs such as Vecihi Hürkuş, Nuri Demirağ, Şakir Zümre and Nuri Killigil have unfortunately failed due to internal and external obstacles.” said.
Expressing that the factories established within the scope of the Machinery and Chemical Industry Institution were not operated at the desired efficiency, President Erdoğan said that as a result, the defense industry was almost completely foreign-dependent.
Noting that the developments that first started with threats and continued with the embargo during the Cyprus Peace Operation period, once again revealed the need for a self-sufficient defense industry, President Erdoğan said: “ASELSAN, TAI Institutions such as HAVELSAN and ROKETSAN are the products of this process.” he said.
“We have mobilized all possibilities”
Reminding that the Undersecretariat of Defense Industry was established to contribute to the development of the domestic and modern defense industry during the 8th President of the Republic, Turgut Özal, President Erdoğan stated that in this context, in addition to domestic production, joint programs between countries were focused on through offset projects until the 2000s.
He said that when they came to the government, they started to take the necessary steps by saying that "nothing will be the same as before" in the defense industry as in every field.
“We have mobilized all the means to establish a fully independent defense industry that is self-sufficient, will not make our country dependent on anyone, and that extends its hand to its friends with its domestic and national systems. The May 2004 meeting of our Defense Industry Executive Committee was a turning point in abandoning ready-made purchases from outside and restructuring our national defense industry as a priority resource. Today, the Turkish defense industry has become one of the most important sectors of our country with its contractors, research institutions, universities, unique products developed and exports under the coordination of our Presidency of Defense Industries. As a matter of fact, while the number of defense projects in our country, which was only 20 62 years ago, exceeds 750 today, the number of our companies operating in this field has increased from 56 to 1500. Likewise, the budget of defense industry projects increased from 5,5 billion dollars to 75 billion dollars, the annual turnover of the sector increased from 1 billion dollars to 10 billion dollars, and our exports increased from 248 million dollars to 3 billion 224 million dollars.”
“We are preparing our country for the war environment of the future”
Emphasizing that Turkey has become a country that meets the needs not only of itself but also of friendly and allied countries, President Erdoğan said, “We are among the 10 countries that can design, build and maintain their own warships. We are now in the top 3 countries of the world in the production of UAV, SİHA and TİHA.” said.
Pointing out that Turkey has reached this level despite all the difficulties caused by global suppliers, the implicit and explicit embargoes it has been subjected to, and sabotage carried out from outside and inside, President Erdoğan said:
“When we look back, what do we see? We asked for an unmanned aerial vehicle, but they didn't. We made Bayraktar, ANKA, Akıncı and Aksungur. We asked for ammunition, they did not give it. So we made Mam, Som, Teber. We asked for missiles, they didn't. We made Bora, Atmaca and Bozdoğan. We asked for an air defense system, they didn't. We bought it from another country in the first place, we have built the HİSARs for now, we will soon complete the SİPER and beyond. They put an embargo on the camera we use in UAVs. They thought that if we did that, we wouldn't be able to use UAVs. We made it ourselves. It is to these achievements that we owe our ability to comfortably carry out anti-terror operations within our borders and to carry out our cross-border peace operations as we wish. We are now raising the bar even higher and preparing our country for the war environment of the future. By increasing our research and development investments, we are implementing systems that require high technology one by one. From swarm UAVs and naval platforms to combat management systems, from unmanned vehicles to artificial intelligence, from electromagnetic systems to laser weapons, from satellites to space systems, we are in every field of technology that we need to be in.”
Stating that TUSAŞ, Turkey's leading company in aviation and space industry studies, has provided important systems to both its own security forces and friendly and brotherly countries with the products it has developed and produced, President Erdoğan said, “The Phase-2 version produced here and equipped with new electronic warfare systems will also be available to our security forces Our ATAK helicopter, to which it was delivered, has become one of our most important tools in the fight against terrorism.” said.
President Erdoğan stated that the Heavy Class Attack Helicopter project, an upgraded version of the ATAK attack helicopter, of which export has begun, continues, and 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.” he said.
Expressing that the deliveries of the Hürkuş trainer aircraft continue and the production of Turkey's first jet-powered aircraft Hürjet training aircraft continues, President 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 that we came together to open will hopefully be the heart of our National Combat Aircraft Project. Our 2 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 300 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 2023, will take its place in the skies in 2025 as the striking force of our Air Force, after the test and qualification processes.
President Erdoğan stated that while developing the aircraft, they did not neglect the preparations that will enable the domestic and national production of its subsystems, components and materials, and 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 one thousand people will be employed. Being Turkey's largest and the world's fourth largest composite facility under a single roof, this center 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 sector with more than 500 engineers who will work within its body. Our engineers, who will be working here with the facilities we opened, are in a sense proof of the great investments we have made in our future in the field of aviation and space.”
Stating that one of the areas where they moved Turkey forward by quickly compensating for the delays it experienced is space technologies, President Erdoğan said, “Our defense industry organizations, which have the foundation, infrastructure and experience in this field, will make the biggest contribution to our space program carried out by our Ministry of Industry and Technology and the Turkish Space Agency. In the tests carried out within the scope of ROKETSAN's Micro Satellite Launch Project, our solid and liquid fuel probe rocket became the first Turkish vehicle to reach space by crossing the space border. The rocket of Delta V, which is working on the hybrid fuel model of the same rocket, also successfully performed the flight test.” said.
Stating that 4 satellites, 3 of which are communication and 7 are observation, are currently operating in space, President 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 TUSAŞ 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 our fully domestic and national satellite TÜRKSAT 6A. We are also launching a new center that will support the currently 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.
Stating that Ankara has become the lifeblood of the defense and aerospace industry, President Erdoğan reminded that they had said that they would make the capital city one of the most important defense industry centers in the world during his prime ministry.
By fulfilling these promises, he stated that they established Turkey's first specialized defense industry organized industrial zone in Ankara and said, “We have put our Ankara Aerospace and Aviation Specialized Organized Industrial Zone, or HAB in short, into operation on an area of 730 hectares right next to TUŞAŞ. With HAB, we aim to support our own industry in the fields of aerospace and aviation, to bring together local and foreign companies, to provide synergy, to produce high value-added products and to export. Our investors showed the interest we expected here. Almost all of the land allocations have been filled, and the investments have started.” said.
President Erdoğan stated that there are currently 18 facilities with completed investments by industrialists and 57 facilities with ongoing investments in the Ankara Aerospace and Aviation Specialized Organized Industrial Zone (HAB).
Expressing that they will open 16 facilities and the Organized Industrial Zone administration building into service today, he said, “When all investments are completed, HAB will host 150 enterprises, 300 of which are industrial enterprises, and its contribution to employment will reach 15 thousand people.” he said.
Stating that the establishment of the Technology Development Zone (TeknoHAB), where companies will carry out their research and development activities, continues in the same area, President Erdoğan expressed his belief that TeknoHAB will attract many national and international companies, important research institutions and technology giants to the region. He said that with the support of universities, relevant institutions and organizations in the region, very special opportunities will be offered to those who want to develop and produce new and advanced technology.
Emphasizing that they have always placed the defense industry in a separate place with all its elements, President Erdoğan said, “We are focusing on this field with national sensitivities in order to develop and produce the weapons used by our soldiers, police and gendarmerie in domestic and cross-border operations without relying on anyone.” said.
“We will never tire of serving our country and nation”
Expressing that they always see the defense industry as a supra-political field, President Erdoğan continued as follows:
“However, we see that from time to time, especially in the last period, the distorting and lying campaigns on this subject are increased to the extent that they sometimes reach the level of slander. We are tired of telling the lies about the Tank Pallet Factory in Arifiye, but they are not tired of repeating the same lies. Finally, they circulated the lie that one of our national defense industry companies was sold to global countries. Despite the denial of this news, especially by the relevant organizations, it continues to spread the word. Of course, we know that the purpose of these lies is not to protect our defense industry establishments, but to undermine our country's defense industry moves. I am calling out to all liars and fraudsters from here, we will never tire of serving our country and nation, but one day you will surely drown in your lies. Here, I declare once again, that we are entering a period in which we will act in a more planned, more systematic and medium-long term in the defense industry.”
Stating that young people and engineers work almost 7/24, President Erdoğan said, “Why? So that this country becomes almost inaccessible in the defense industry. We will not consent to the supply of products that we can produce from abroad. Using the limited resources we have to develop and strengthen our own defense industry will continue to be our main priority.” he said.
“I invite the industry to exhibit more global successes”
Expressing that he expects more effort, more efficient work and faster results from the defense industry sector in this regard with public and private companies, President Erdoğan said, “The level we have reached is of course important, but it is definitely not enough. I invite the industry to work harder, to produce more products, and to exhibit more global achievements in order to do much better and reach much higher levels. I sincerely believe that we will reach our targets in the defense industry as soon as possible by improving cooperation, harmony and sharing between our institutions. As the President, I will continue to support the defense industry in the strongest possible way, as I have done so far.” used the phrases.
President Erdoğan wished that the National Combat Aircraft Engineering Center, Composite Manufacturing Facility, Space Systems Engineering Center and Warehouse Level, Maintenance and Repair Center, which they will inaugurate, would be beneficial for the defense industry and the country, and said:
“The projects to be carried out with approximately 700 thousand personnel in these facilities, whose investment cost exceeds 5 million TL, will hopefully add strength to the strength of TAI and our defense industry. I hope that the investments of our companies that started production in our Ankara Aerospace and Aviation Specialized Organized Industrial Zone will be beneficial. I congratulate our institutions, companies, and everyone from engineers to workers that brought all these investments to our country.”
President Erdoğan, who made inspections at the facility upon his arrival at TAI, received information about the aircraft produced and modernized in Turkey.
Taking a souvenir photo with TAI employees in the aircraft hangar, President Erdoğan signed a manufactured piece of HURJET.
The ceremony was attended by Vice President Fuat Oktay, Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar, Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank, Chief of General Staff General Yaşar Güler and force commanders, and President of Presidency Defense Industry Prof. Dr. İsmail Demir and TUSAŞ General Manager Prof. Dr. Temel Kotil also participated.
At the ceremony where the promotional video of the National Combat Aircraft was shown, a gift was presented to President Erdoğan.
President Erdoğan then cut the ribbon for the collective opening of the facilities, which were completed with his entourage. He thanked all engineers, technicians and TUSAŞ and said, "May God grant us the opportunity to see the production of works that will hopefully benefit our country and surprise the world." she cut the ribbon.
With the ribbon cutting, the "National Combat Aircraft Engineering Center", "Composite Manufacturing Facility", "Space Systems Engineering Building", "Warehouse Level Maintenance and Repair Center" and the facilities that were completed in Ankara Aerospace and Aviation Specialized Organized Industrial Zone were put into service.
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