“What does not kill you makes you stronger” is a saying that represents a summary of the breakthrough Türkiye has achieved in the defense sector despite a score of Western embargoes, which industry officials say only helped fuel the country’s rapid localization drive.
The last two decades have seen Türkiye’s defense industry go through a profound transformation to eventually domestically manufacture a series of air, land and sea platforms. The country’s external dependence in the sector dropped to 20%, from 80% in the early 2000s.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has hailed the success as a “revolution” and dubbed it Türkiye’s unprecedented march toward full independence in the critical industry.
The breakthrough, enabled through homegrown air, land and marine platforms, secured Türkiye’s success in counterterrorism operations both at home and abroad, namely in northern Iraq and Syria.
Yet, military offensives saw Western nations impose embargoes on sales of parts that then constituted crucial equipment of some of Türkiye’s vehicles, including choppers and drones. Türkiye repeatedly criticized and called such moves unfair.
The rapid localization has helped Türkiye reach a level where it manufactures and develops its own helicopters, warships, unmanned aerial vehicles, warplanes, and submarines without relying on imported products.
The capability of some of its vehicles, spearheaded by drones, demonstrated in some regional conflicts including in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Karabakh, as well as Ukraine, triggered unprecedented demand that saw Türkiye’s defense industry exports hit a record $4.4 billion in 2022.
In contrast, the same figure stood at nearly $250 million 20 years ago.
"Türkiye actually achieved this rapid localization thanks to the embargoes. Every kind of ban imposed on our country has led us to leap forward," said Ibrahim Yarsan, the head of the OSTIM Defense and Aerospace Cluster (OSSA).
Türkiye has successfully overcome significant challenges and “embargoes have made us even stronger,” Yarsan told the Sabah daily. OSSA is an umbrella organization incorporating some 278 defense companies.
“Türkiye was a country that lagged behind the world not only in defense technologies but also in many technology areas,” said Burak Gayretli, a corporate communications manager at the prominent defense manufacturer Havelsan.
“As we started to understand ourselves and see our shortcomings, we began to become a country that produces these technologies. This was especially true in the defense industry,” Gayretli said.
The annual budget allocated for research and development (R&D) in the industry reached $1.5 billion in 2022, according to official data. It is up from only $49 million in 2002 when the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) came to power.
The sector now includes more than 2,000 companies, far exceeding the 56 firms in 2002. The volume of projects run that year stood at $5.5 billion, a figure that currently stands at more than $60 billion, according to Erdoğan.
Today, Gayretli says Türkiye is developing its own original technologies.
“The domestic rate reaching 80% in the defense industry is very important,” he noted. “For instance, people say 'let it be 100% domestic.' No country has such a concept. Because many sectors have their own markets and equations within themselves. I think we are in a very good position right now."
Gülcan Güner, deputy general manager of Kale Savunma, said in the eight years they have been operating in the industry, they have become capable of producing parts for all the equipment that feeds the sector.
“We find the localization in the defense industry very valuable. We achieved this very quickly as a country. The needs we felt as a country raised our domestic production capacity in this area to high levels,” Güner said.
“We have companies that can meet this. Our umbrella companies are very strong. We are also proud to feed them."
Dubbing it a "revolution" in early January, Erdoğan said, "we will not stop, rest, or consent to the slightest step back until we proclaim our full independence in the defense industry arena."
"As is the case here today, we will make our country glide from one success to another under public and private sector cooperation."
