Aerospace and defense industry global giants with billion-dollar budgets are coming to Istanbul. The SAHA EXPO 2018 Defense and Aerospace Exhibition to be hosted by SAHA Istanbul will pave the way for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The SAHA Istanbul Defense and Aerospace Cluster Association was established in Turkey by 27 companies three years ago for Turkey to become a global power that can produce its own aircraft, ships, weapons and systems and compete with the world with its technological infrastructure. Founded with the aim of developing a common synergy with the power of 65,000 industrialists, SAHA Istanbul has 268 members today.
Among the new targets of the institution is to consolidate this potential through an international fair. Hasan Büyükdede, chairman of SAHA Istanbul, said the SAHA EXPO 2018 Exhibition's primary objective is to introduce the participating companies to the main contractors and official agencies operating in the fields of defense, maritime and aerospace.
"Major companies active in the aforementioned sectors were also invited to the fair, which is expected to welcome representatives of organizations and institutions such as the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries, Roketsan, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) and Aselsan," Büyükdede continued, adding that many industrialists from American Boeing and Lockheed Martin, British Rolls-Royce, Ukrainian aviation clusters, French DAFE representatives and the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) will be at SAHA EXPO 2018. Among the members of Turkey's largest cluster in SAHA Istanbul are giants like Baykar Makina, the producer of the first combat and noncombat unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV); Kale Group, the producer of the national fighter jet engine and the company that later shook hands with Rolls-Royce to manufacture the engine; and THY Technic, which repairs and overhauls hundreds of aircraft belonging to international airline companies, as well as companies that manufacture spare parts for aircraft and serve as suppliers for Roketsan.
