The SAHA Expo Defense, Aviation and Space Industry Fair, which will be held on Oct. 22-28 in Istanbul, eyes an export-focused business volume of over $2 billion (TL 68 billion) as interest in Türkiye’s defense industry grows amid regional conflicts and uncertainty.
Europe's largest industrial cluster, SAHA Expo, is being organized on a much larger scale this year with the participation of more than 1,200 companies, 500 official and trade delegations and over 150,000 visitors. While providing global opportunities for local producers, the fair will offer buyers the latest technologies.
The expo will also be open for two days on Oct. 25-26.
The event will pave the way for important agreements regarding the future of the defense industry and showcase the latest technologies and solutions in the sector.
"We expect around 200 stands from 40 countries," said SAHA Istanbul Secretary-General Levent Kerim Uça during a press briefing on Thursday. "We have participation from five continents, ranging from the United States to Vietnam, from China to Korea, and from European, Asian and African countries."
He underlined that "the local defense industry has transformed into a producing position from a position of consumer."
"The upcoming period will be a time for harvest for the country’s defense, aviation and space industry," Uça pointed out further.
SAHA Istanbul is a nongovernmental organization that supports Türkiye’s National Technology Move and develops projects to enhance national technologies and talents, decrease foreign dependence, forge new cooperation and produce what has not been made before.
"We aim to bring together the visiting official delegations with local companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) because it is generally difficult for SME-level companies to meet with such high-level officials. With coordinated planning, we will bring the delegations to the companies of the areas they are interested in," said SAHA Expo General Director Murad Çakır.
Türkiye’s emerging defense industry has grown thanks to increasing interest in the sector by the country’s engineers and government support. The defense products being used in a wide region from Ukraine, Karabakh and Libya have also increased global interest and buyers.
"We have sold products to 180 countries – almost every country globally. Our export figures were $5.5 billion last year. According to the figures announced by our Presidency of Defense Industries this year, there has been a 9% increase compared to last year's figures as of May. If this trend continues, it seems like it could easily exceed 6 billion dollars this year," Uça highlighted.
Beyond being an ordinary fair, the SAHA Expo will also hold panels for sectoral discussions, drone challenges, product/project presentations, B2B meetings and several other activities.