Erdogan: We aim to export 6 billion dollars defense industry in 2023

At the opening of IDEF’23 16th International Defense Industry Fair held at Istanbul TÜYAP Fair and Congress Center, Erdoğan addressed the participants with a video message.

Wishing the 16th of IDEF’23 to be beneficial, Erdoğan congratulated all institutions and organizations that contributed to the fair held under the auspices of the Presidency.

President Erdoğan said “Welcome” to state and government officials, ministers and military personnel who came to Istanbul from different countries of the world to attend the fair.

Pointing out that IDEF, which has been organized since 1993, has become a world-class brand in the defense industry as a proven organization, Erdoğan said, “I believe that our fair, where millions of dollars of agreements are signed, new partnerships are established, and defense industry products are showcased, will further increase its success rate this year.” he said.

Emphasizing that as Turkey, they attach great importance to developing the defense industry despite many obstacles and implicit and explicit embargoes, Erdoğan said, “Thank God, we have begun to reap the fruits of our national technology move, which we have been carrying out with determination for years, in different fields.” used the phrase.

Pointing out that the Turkish defense industry sector has written a success story that the whole world has followed with admiration in recent years, Erdoğan stated that the sector has proven its worth with its armored vehicles, artillery, rockets, air defense systems, and all kinds of weapons and radar systems tested in conflict zones.

Pointing out that Turkey is able to meet almost all of its own needs in land, air and sea vehicles with domestic and national means, Erdoğan continued his words as follows:

“We are among the three leading countries in the world in the technology of unmanned aerial vehicles and armed unmanned aerial vehicles. Turkey, which is one of the 10 countries that make its own warship, is also an important exporter in this field. We put TCG Anadolu, which we can call the world’s first ‘SİHA ship’, into the service of our navy. We are now taking our TİHA move, which we started with Akıncı, to a very different dimension with our unmanned warplane Kızılelma.

We introduced our fifth generation national combat aircraft, which we named KAAN. We carry out the production processes step by step. Apart from this, we are meticulously implementing 850 different projects that will leave their mark in the defense industry. Last year, we reached an export figure of 4 billion 400 million dollars. In the first 6 months of this year, we achieved a record export level of 2 billion 378 million dollars. Our target in 2023 is 6 billion dollars. I believe that we will achieve our year-end export target, and even exceed this figure.”

“We are not just after selling products”

“During our visit to the Gulf countries last week, we signed the highest amount of export contracts in our history in defense industry products. We believe that new ones will be added to these agreements in IDEF 2023,” Erdogan said.

“As we always say, we are not just after selling products, we aim to establish long-term partnerships and develop joint projects. We are pleased to present our knowledge, experience and experience in the field of defense industry to the benefit of our friends. With these thoughts, I wish success to each of our companies that will exhibit the latest products they have developed in the fields of land, sea, aviation and space, logistics support and security at the fair. I wish our international defense industry fair to be fruitful, and express my gratitude to all our guests.”