How Turkey’s aerospace industry takes off
All of Erdogan's latest Turkish stuff on aerospace. The article by Giuseppe Gagliano
Turkey's defense and aerospace sales have increased tenfold over the past two decades. In fact, in 2021 the sales of the defense and aerospace sector of Turkey reached 10.1 billion dollars and exports totaled 3.2 billion dollars, exceeding the 2.6 billion dollars of imports.
Additionally, Turkey's defense and aerospace exports in the first half of 2022 hit a record high of nearly $ 2 billion, a 48% increase over the same period in 2021.
The increase in exports, which came after two years of decline during the pandemic, in 2020 and 2021, is expected to be mainly attributed to the aerospace sector and in particular to home-made drones.
Ukraine, for example, has become a regular buyer of Bayraktar TB2 drones, manufactured by the Turkish company Baykar. Drone deliveries began before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, but have continued ever since. In May, Kiev received 12 TB2s and related operating systems, then ordered another 24.
Overall, Turkey has supplied 96 TB2 drones globally, including to Poland, the first European customer.
Central Asia is also becoming another market for TB2s. Last year, Kyrgyzstan signed an agreement to purchase the armed drone, becoming the first Central Asian country to purchase the system, although it is unclear how many have been ordered.
In May 2022, Turkey and Kazakhstan agreed to co-produce Turkish drones that the Central Asian country bought in 2021.
Also in May, reports emerged that Tajikistan, another Central Asian nation, had bought TB2s, with neighboring Kyrgyzstan voicing its alarm amid an arms race between the two countries.
More recently, the Turkish ambassador to Bangladesh, Osman Turan, said on July 25 that the government of Dhaka and Baykar have agreed on contractual terms for the sale of TB2 to the Asian nation. The ambassador did not provide a quantity or contractual value.
While Africa is a new market for Turkish defense firms, defense and aerospace exports to the continent are increasing, from $ 83 million in 2020 to $ 288 million in 2021. Turkish companies have sold various armored equipment and vehicles to 14 African nations: Burkina Faso, Algeria, Chad, Morocco, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Rwanda and Uganda.
Growing geopolitical rivalry and growing conflict zones have dictated a sharp rise in defense spending in Africa, offering, among others, export opportunities to Turkish producers.
The Turkish maritime market also made moves in Ukraine. In November 2020, the two countries signed an industrial cooperation agreement, under which Turkey in 2021 began construction of the first Ada-class corvette for Ukraine, with delivery scheduled for 2023. A second-class corvette Ada will be built by the Ukrainian OKEAN shipyard.
In 2018, Pakistan chose the Turkish T129 attack helicopter to replace its fleet of AH − 1F Cobra gunboats acquired in the 1980s. Pakistan signed a $ 1.5 billion contract with TAI for 30 elos T129; however, the deal has not progressed as the T129's engine is a joint US-UK product that requires export licenses before delivery can take place.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/turchia-industria-aerospazio/ on Fri, 12 Aug 2022 05:15:25 +0000.