Erdoğan: 2023 to mark turning point in Türkiye’s defense industry

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said they would announce more “good news” in the local defense industry in 2023, saying that this year will be a turning point in the industry.

“We are determined to make 2023 a turning point in the defense industry along with other fields. The year 2023 will be a year full of good news, with very important developments that will make everyone proud,” Erdoğan said, speaking at the delivery ceremony of new generation Fırtına howitzers on Jan. 9.

“We’re going to get the [National Combat Aircraft] MMU out of the hangar and show it to the world. Bayraktar Kızılelma’s flight maneuver tests will be carried out. This year, we are putting Anadolu, which will be the first SİHA ship, into service,” he added.

While only 56 companies were operating in the defense industry in 2002, today this number has exceeded 2,000 and the country’s defense exports, which were only $248 million 20 years ago, broke a record with $4.4 billion last year, Erdoğan stated.

Six new generation Fırtına howitzers are delivered at the ceremony in BMC company’s Arifiye facility in Sakarya province, and this number will increase to 140 in the coming period, the president said.

The new generation Fırtına howitzers have many advantages compared to the models currently in the inventory, he said, adding that both the survivability and firepower of our howitzers have been increased.

“Among the added capabilities, there are many critical elements such as new generation fire control, automatic ammunition loading, driver’s vision, automatic fire extinguishing, air conditioning, remote control weapon, renewed track suspension equipment and new generation auxiliary power group,” he stated.

With these systems, Türkiye will also reduce its dependence on foreign sources, Erdoğan said, adding, “Hopefully, we will complete the localization activities that we have been carrying out for a while in the field of engine and transmission in two years.”

Expressing that the engine and transmission that have been developed by BMC Power company since 2025 will be used in the Fırtına howitzers, Erdoğan emphasized that they will radically resolve the licensing issue that occasionally arises in the export of defense products.

“We continue our work by extending the momentum we gained here to other strategic projects carried out in our factory, especially the Altay tank,” the president said.

In May, two new Altay tanks will be delivered to the army and to the company that will produce the power group for their tests, he said. “Hopefully, after completing the tests of the new Altays, we will start mass production together with our project partners from 2025.”

Erdoğan said the production and export of Altuğ 8×8 armored personnel carriers continue at the Arifiye facility, the modernization of Leopard 2A4 tanks in the inventory of the Turkish Armed Forces also continues and the project, integration and production of different engines and transmissions from 400 to 1500 hp are underway.