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Turkish defense industry grows by 19 percent in 2010

04 May 2011 [12:28] - TODAY.AZ
Turkey’s thriving local defense industry reported a growth rate of 19 percent in 2010, confirming analysts’ expectations of "fast and sustainable growth" in the years ahead.

"The Turkish defense industry’s total revenue amounted to $2.773 billion in 2010, up from $2.319 billion in 2009. This is a robust growth," said a late April report released by the Defense Industry Manufacturers’ Association, or SaSaD, an umbrella organization of Turkish defense industry companies.

However, the Turkish industry reported a 5 percent decline in exports. Total exports stood at $634 million last year, down from $669 million the previous year.

"The slight drop in exports reflects the continuing effects in 2010 of the global financial crisis," said SaSaD.

SaSaD’s export figures are different from those of the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries, or SSM, the government’s defense procurement agency. While the SSM counts civilian aviation exports related to the defense contracts, known as offsets, officially as part of defense exports, SaSaD only counts direct defense sales abroad.

Under SSM’s figures the Turkish defense exports totaled $832 million in 2009. SSM’s 2010 figures are not yet available.

"The decrease in exports is a temporary trend because from early figures this year we see a major increase in foreign sales," said one SaSaD official. The official figures for 2011 will be available in 2012.

But a senior SSM official said earlier this year that the 2011 export figures would come close to $1.5 billion.

Analysts said one reason for "sustainable growth" in the near future for the Turkish industry is heavy investment in research and development activity. SaSaD said in 2010 the defense industry spent $666 million on R&D, up 32 percent from $505 million in 2009.

Turkey’s domestic defense industry, for the first time, reported that it met an ambitious objective of meeting more than half of the country’s requirements. According to SaSaD, the local industry generated $2.14 billion revenue last year from sales to domestic buyers. This accounts for more than half of Turkey’s total budget for new equipment and systems worth about an annual $4 billion.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pledged that Turkey’s local defense companies would manufacture indigenous tanks, helicopters, warplanes, UAVs and military satellites in the next 12 years as part of his party’s election manifesto for parliamentary polls scheduled for June 2011.

Erdoğan has vigorously set out a national strategy to maximize local content in Turkey’s defense programs, aiming at what he calls "near self-sufficiency." In recent years, Turkey practically suspended off-the-shelf purchase options, restructuring programs into local development or co-production.


/Hurriyet Daily News/
URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/85568.html

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