Turkish defense industry eyes Gulf, Africa with Saudi partnership

ISTANBUL- Anadolu Agency

 The Turkish defense industry aims to seize new export opportunities in Gulf and African countries via cooperation established with Saudi firm Middle East Tasks Company (METCO).

Istanbul-based defense technology contractor BayGalata’s products were showcased at the METCO booth at the International Defense Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) 2025 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The METCO Group is involved in the marketing and production of Turkish defense industry products. The first result of the cooperation was the display of BayGalata’s products at IDEX 2025, which is being held from Feb. 17-21.

BayGalata’s partnership with the METCO Group was established at the defense and aerospace event SAHA EXPO 2024 in late October last year.

Majd Zahabi, strategic governance and communications manager at the METCO Group, told Anadolu Agency that the firm has been planning to include the defense industry in its operations for some time and chose to cooperate with Türkiye due to the recent successes in defense industry development.

Zahabi said the group aims to sell a range of products from BayGalata’s portfolio, including armed and unarmed unmanned systems, anti-drone and electro-optical systems, and jammers to Gulf countries and Africa as they prepare for their production in Saudi Arabia.

He added that the METCO Group works with seven other defense industry firms in various partnership deals.

Onur Erim, general manager of BayGalata, said the firm began its operations five years ago with the goal of adding value to the Turkish defense industry and exporting products to global markets.

“We brought many products to markets where they’d never been sold before and we increased the visibility of our products with value-added integrations and software,” he said.

Erim also noted that BayGalata has developed key electronic systems projects with other companies, including Meteksan Defense, Asisguard and OMS and continues to add new ones.

“We attracted Saudi investors’ interest at last year’s SAHA EXPO and we met the METCO Group, and our relationship developed rapidly,” he said.

“We will make the first production plant announcement sometime in March, and we will probably jointly produce our products in Riyadh based on the final authorization. Our products will target the markets of Gulf countries and Africa,” he added.