Defense industrialists are hoping to bring exports up by a whopping 70 percent by the year's end, which would bring in 1.5 billion dollars.
Defense and Aerospace Industry Exporters Association (SSİ) Chairman of the Board of Directors Latif Aral Aliş says that as a sector, they have set a 25 billion dollar objective for the year 2023. "We are comparing ourselves to new-born babies. At six months we began to talk. In two-years, we will be running," states Aliş.
According to figures relayed by Aliş, the United States is the top nation Turkey exports to with 39.2 percent of exports going to the US alone.
This includes the exports of materials for planes and helicopters as well as electronic weapons. At 9.1 percent the United States is followed by the UAE, Saudi Arabia comes in third with 8.4 percent, followed by Bahrain with 4.6 and Italy consisting of 4.0 percent of Turkey's defense industry exports and the list goes on.
WE ARE PLAYING FOR THE PEAK
Reminding that Turkey was responsible for developing Malaysia's unmanned naval vessel, Aliş states, "The United States, Russia, Germany, France and England retain 76 percent of the entire global defense industry market. Our goal is to become the sixth player in defense industry exports."