Turkish firms among world’s top defense companies

ISTANBUL

Aselsan ranked 49th in the Defense News’ Top 100 list, while two other firms, the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAŞ) and Roketsan also made it to the league of global defense companies.

Aselsan increased its defense revenues by 1 percent from $2.22 billion in 2020 to $2.25 billion in 2021.

The company’s total revenues amounted to $2.33 billion with defense revenues accounting for 96 percent of total.

Last year it ranked 48th in the Defense News’ list. The company first entered the list in 2007, when it ranked 97th.

“Despite all challenges stemming from disruptions to global supply chains and production as well as geopolitical uncertainties in 2021, Aselsan remained successful,” said Haluk Görgün, board chair and general manager of the company.

Görgün noted the company posted a net income of 7.1 billion Turkish Liras in 2021, when it signed new business deals worth more than $2 billion.

“We further widened our global outreach with our sales and production networks and managed to export products for the first time to six countries. The number of countries using Aselsan products increased to 78 by adding 15 new nations to the client base over the past three years,” he said.

Aselsan was established in 1975 in order to meet the communication needs of the Turkish Armed Forces by national means.

TUSAŞ climbed one notch in the ladder, claiming the 67th spot in the ranking, up from the 68th in the previous year.

The company’s defense revenues increased by 4 percent from 2020 to amount to $1.3 billion in 2021 with total revenues reaching $1.57 billion. Defense revenues made up 83 percent of all revenues of TUSAŞ.

The Turkish Aerospace was founded in 1973 to reduce Türkiye’s foreign dependence in the defense industry.

Another Turkish company, Roketsan, which was not in the previous year’s list, ranked 86th.

Roketsan boosted its defense revenues by 42 percent from 2020 to 2021 to $814 million. Defense revenues accounted for 100 percent of all the company’s revenues.

Roketsan was launched in 1988 for the purpose of designing, developing and manufacturing rockets and missiles.

Export revenues of the local defense industry stood at only $248 million in 2002, surpassing the $1billion-threshold in 2011 for the first time and the $3 billion-mark in 2019, show data from the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB).

Türkiye’s defense export revenues reached $3.22 billion last year, picking up from the previous year’s $2.3 billion.

The total turnover in the aviation and defense industry rose from $1.06 billion in 2002 to $8.9 billion in 2021, declining from $10.9 billion in 2020.