KUALA LUMPUR: With the aim of achieving the status of the world’s 10th largest defence company by 2028, Turkish Aerospace Industries is actively developing its capacities in defence and aerospace technologies.
The company has diligently worked to enhance its capacity for manufacturing state-of-the-art products in its facilities in the capital of Türkiye, Ankara, which cover an expansive area of more than 700,000 square metres – comparable to the size of 600 football fields.
The endeavour involved the recruitment of around 6,000 engineers and an additional 6,000 technicians.
To further expand its capabilities, Turkish Aerospace has also opened several offices abroad, including in Malaysia and Indonesia, where they are currently recruiting 80 and 30 local engineers, respectively.
Recently, Bernama, along with three representatives from Malaysian media and four representatives from Indonesian media, were invited to visit its manufacturing facilities in Ankara and attend the 16th International Defence Industry Fair 2023 (IDEF’23) in Istanbul.
CEO optimistic
Despite Turkish Aerospace’s current position among the top 60 largest defence companies, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Prof Temel Kotil expressed confidence in achieving the objective of elevating its ranking to the top 10.
In an interview with the visiting media delegation at IDEF’23, he pointed to the company’s indigenous fighter jet, KAAN, as a testament to its prowess in producing cutting-edge defence products.
He said Türkiye is one of the few countries that possess the necessary technologies, engineering infrastructure and production capabilities for the development of a fifth-generation fighter.
“If you noticed the Russian-built Sukhoi SU-57, Chinese Chengdu J-20, American F-22 and F-35 and KAAN. That’s it.
“In order to build fifth generation fighter, it should be a big company. It (KAAN) is almost ready to fly; this means we already put together some infrastructure in terms of the aerodynamic testing, mechanical testing and manufacturing, the hydraulic system, strike system, all those things we put together already,” he said.
Established in 1973, he noted that Turkish Aerospace had a humble start, beginning with the manufacturing and assembly of F-16 fighter parts.
This opportunity allowed the company to learn about the production of metal and aluminium components to produce its own indigenous products.
Marking its 50th anniversary in the aerospace industry, Turkish Aerospace has produced fixed wing platforms, rotary wing platforms, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems, and space systems as well as aerostructures.
Fixed wing platforms
KAAN is one of four fixed-wing platforms developed by Turkish Aerospace. Three others are HURKUS advanced trainer aircraft, HURKUS mission aircraft and HURJET advanced trainer and light attack aircraft.
Kotil said KAAN is the company’s biggest project and will be flying by the end of this year, following the success of the HURJET’s maiden flight in April.
“So we learned from the HURJET. Our engineers and technicians work very hard and make a good product. It’s (HURJET) a well-established flight, and hopefully the same thing for KAAN,” he added.
On HURKUS, he said the turboprop aircraft which is developed as a light trainer and combat aircraft is one of the company’s bestsellers.
According to Kotil, Turkish Aerospace’s facility in Cyberjaya is currently designing and producing the flight control computers for HURJET and HURKUS, adding that the company is planning to recruit more engineers from Malaysia.
Rotary wing platforms
Turkish Aerospace’s rotary wing platforms include the T-129 ATAK multirole combat helicopter, T-929 multirole heavy combat helicopter, and three general purpose helicopters – T-625 GOKBEY, T-925 and T-70.
ATAK-I helicopters are being used by the Turkish Armed Forces and exported to the Philippines and Nigeria, said the company’s Executive Vice President (Helicopter) Dr Mehmet Demiroglu. The two countries ordered six ATAK-I helicopters each.
“The delivery (to the Philippines) will be completed in the fourth quarter (this year). It’s going well, they’re very happy. We are also informed that they are considering buying another six (units).
“We are also getting ready to deliver to Nigeria, it will be done next couple of months two of the six units,” he said.
The company is expecting more orders from overseas for the surveillance and reconnaissance drone, especially from countries where terrorism is the biggest threat, said Demiroglu.
“The end user looks for two things – first, whether this equipment is being used by your own armed forces, and for ATAK, the answer is yes. The second question is whether you have exported it to other countries, and again, the answer is yes,” he said.
The media delegation was also given the opportunity to see up close the prototype of T-929, also called ATAK-II, which is Turkish Aerospace’s next-generation combat helicopter. ATAK-II successfully performed its first flight last April.
Meanwhile, the T-925 helicopter made its debut at IDEF’23 and is expected to make its maiden flight next year. The big sister of GOKBEY was designed with a large cabin area that can carry 20 people and a ramp door that can be configured for civilian passengers and military personnel and used as an air ambulance or to ferry VIPs.
UAV systems
Turkish Aerospace is also recognised for its unmanned aircraft, with a notable emphasis on the ANKA-I drone. Malaysia and Indonesia have placed orders for three and 12 units of the surveillance and reconnaissance drone, respectively.
Other notable drones include AKSUNGUR high payload capacity UAV and ANKA-III unmanned combat aerial vehicle.
“None of the UAVs that we have produced so far are the result of joint ventures. They are all homegrown, home-designed, home-built, and home-tested – including the ANKA-III, which is entirely our own design,” said Demiroglu.
“We proved to ourselves first and to the world, that we can do stuff, whether it is advanced UAV, whether it’s attack helicopter, whether it’s HURJET, whether it’s a fifth generation fighter jet, we can do this and we did it in a short period of time,” he added.
The ANKA-III is in the final stages of the taxi test and counting the days until its maiden flight.
Space systems and aerostructures
In 2002, Turkish Aerospace embarked on space projects and continues to expand its capabilities in manufacturing communication and observation satellites.
To date, it has developed six satellites at its facility in Ankara. Its most recent launch was in April and the next launch is expected in the middle of next year.
Apart from that, Turkish Aerospace also manufactured aerostructures for military and commercial aircraft for its overseas customers.
These include parts and components of Airbus 220/320/330/350/400M aircraft and Boeing 737 and 787 aircraft. – BERNAMA
