President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday said that Turkey will not depend on imports when it comes to components used in many ammunitions, missiles and composite warheads, declaring that the country will manufacture these products domestically to international standards at the newly established energetic materials production facility under Turkey’s Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKEK).
Speaking in the capital Ankara at the joint opening ceremony for the energetic materials facility and MKEK's Barutsan Rocket and Explosive Factory, Erdoğan noted that the new facility had been built with domestic resources.
Joining an exclusive club of countries nationwide, Turkey now will be able to produce explosives, including the RDX, HMX, and CMX, he stressed.
"Recent events and the overt and covert embargoes we have been subjected to created the need to manufacture such critical products within our country," Erdoğan said.
The facility, with an annual production capacity of 200 tons, was quickly established in just 12 months with a $25 million (TL 205.57 million) investment on 45,000 square meters of land.
Catapulting Turkey to the big leagues, the new factory can produce next-generation explosives, the president added, noting that modular gunpowder systems, something Turkey used to import, are now also set to be produced domestically.
During the inauguration ceremony, MKEK, the only factory in the world that produces weapons in all calibers under a single roof, introduced its three latest products.
One of the latest products, an air portable 105 mm light towed howitzer, Boran, is being prepared for mass-production and seven pilot units are set to be delivered in June this year. The howitzer has an effective firing range of 17 km (10.56 miles) and can fire six shots in a minute.
The second product unveiled during the ceremony was the hybrid armored combat vehicle which can operate both manned or unmanned via remote control. The hybrid armored combat vehicle project was executed with the aim of decreasing the country's dependence on imports of engines and transmissions from abroad while also decreasing operating and logistical costs.
The modular gunpowder system was the third product introduced late Thursday, created entirely by MKEK.
A procurement contract for 17,000 units modular gunpowder system was signed between the company and the Defense Industries Presidency (SSB) to be used by Turkish Land Forces Command.