Defense industry’s exports climb to $3.8 billion in January-September

ANKARA

Türkiye’s defense exports amounted to $3.8 billion in the January-September period this year, Haluk Görgün, the president of the Defense Industry Agency (SSB), has said.

Görgün noted that the country targets to generate $6 billion in defense exports in 2023.

The industry’s export revenues grew nearly 40 percent in the first nine months of the year, accounting for 2.4 percent of Türkiye’s exports, which stood at $187.5 billion.

In September alone, defense exports leaped 159 percent year-on-year to more than $430 million.

“Our county continues to shine in the international arena with our export achievements in the defense industry,” Görgün wrote on the social media platform X.

Türkiye has been investing heavily in defense to reduce its dependency on foreign countries and become a major player in the global defense industry.

The local companies operating in the defense sector are presently working on more than 850 projects, up from only 62 in 2002.

The size of those projects grew from $5.5 billion two decades ago to $90 billion in 2023.

In line with the fast development of the industry, export revenues soared from $248 million in 2002 to $4.4 billion last year, surpassing the $1 billion-mark in 2011 for the first time.

The industry’s total turnover climbed from $1.1 billion in 2002 to $12.2 billion in 2022.

Local defense companies develop unmanned ground vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, helicopters, naval platforms, ships, speed boats and unnamed sea vehicles.