![\"TAI-Drone\"](\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/TAI-Drone.png\")
<\/p>\nBy Justin Vela in Istanbul<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Turkey is moving up in defence manufacturing with the commercial development of the ANKA, its first domestically-made drone (pictured).<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the product of an industry that\u2019s largely state-owned but one that is expanding its $14bn-a-year revenues, and creating investment opportunities through privatisation. First for a likely stock market launch is ANKA\u2019s maker, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), the second largest company in the sector.<\/p>\n
Like most Turkish defence contractors, TAI is a subsidiary of the country\u2019s Armed Forces Foundation (TSKGV). It is expected to be listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) later this year, according to Arda Mevlutoglu, a Turkish defence analyst, who says the pioneering sale could pave the way for others.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing [public] is part of a wider strategic plan to make TAI a global player,\u201d Mevlutoglu said. \u201cIf the formula works well, it may be applied to other major contractors as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
TAI didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment in time for publication. The ANKA unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is one of TAI\u2019s latest developments, with a 56-foot wingspan, a top speed of 75 knots per hour, and a maximum altitude of 30,000 feet.<\/p>\n
The Anka completed military testing in late January and is set for serial production. Turkey aims to export the drone around the region, with the Egyptian government reportedly signing an agreement last November to buy 10 of the drones.<\/p>\n
On March 6, Turkey\u2019s President Abdullah Gul showed the ANKA to Jordan\u2019s King Abdullah, along with other military products, such as the T-129 \u201cATAK\u201d combat helicopter, a $3.2bn joint project between TAI and the Anglo-Italian helicopter company AgustaWestland.<\/p>\n
In 2012, Turkey exported about $1.2bn worth of defence equipment, a 35.7 per cent rise over 2011. The main export destinations were the US ($490m), United Arab Emirates ($101m), and Saudi Arabia ($99m). The industry is aiming for $2bn in exports by 2016.<\/p>\n
Mevlutoglu noted that Turkey\u2019s Undersecretary for Defense Industries (SSM) has a regional office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia \u201cfor overseeing and coordinating export activities in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
In February 2013, Turkish missile manufacturer Roketsan signed a $196.2m deal to provide the UAE military with its Cirit laser-guided rocket system. This is the first foreign sale of Cirit, which is billed as a relatively low-cost precision strike system equipped with 70mm rockets that have a range of eight kilometers.<\/p>\n
\u201cTurkey is trying to develop low-cost highly reliable weapons that aren\u2019t as expensive as the US systems, but that match the capabilities,\u201d said Aaron Stein, a researcher at Istanbul\u2019s Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies. \u201cThat allows Turkey to fill a niche market. It will take time, but\u2026it is state policy to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roketsan is also partnered with US-based arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin to produce canisters for its PAC-3 missile.<\/p>\n
Other Turkish weapons include the Altay tank, a $400m project produced by Otokar, a subsidiary of Turkey\u2019s Koc Holding, the country\u2019s largest listed conglomerate. South Korea\u2019s Hyundai Rotem and Turkey\u2019s Roketsan and Aselsan, a publicly-listed military communications and electronics company, are among the project\u2019s sub-contractors. Serial production is expected to start in 2015.<\/p>\n
Otokar also produces the Cobra armored vehicle, which is currently exported to a number of countries around the world, including Azerbaijan, Bahrain, and Pakistan.<\/p>\n
Turkey\u2019s desire to foster its domestic defence industry dates back to the 1980\u2032s and is partly aimed at decreasing dependence on buying \u201coff the shelf\u201d military goods from the US, Stein said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a platform for Turkey to develop high-technology exports.\u201d<\/p>\n
The increased exports will also help ease Turkey\u2019s current account deficit, which is expected to be 7-8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013.<\/p>\n
However, the increase in arms exports has raised some concerns about weapons proliferation in the region. The US Congress has long blocked the sale of drones to Turkey, citing incidents such as the accidental killing of 40 Kurdish civilians from the southern town of Uludere by the Turkish Air Force of in December 2011.<\/p>\n
With the ANKA headed for serial production, TAI has already begun developing an armed version of the drone called the ANKA +A that will be outfitted with Cirit missiles from Roketsan.<\/p>\n
Stein noted that the increased weapons exports could contradict Turkey\u2019s stated goal of preventing weapons proliferation in the Middle East, but ultimately sales were too small to alter the balance of power in the region.<\/p>\n
He says: \u201cSometimes commercial interests supersede non-proliferation commitments. Sometimes the two are at odds with each other. It depends which Turkey chooses.\u201d<\/p>\n
via Turkish defence industry aims high | beyondbrics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Justin Vela in Istanbul Turkey is moving up in defence manufacturing with the commercial development of the ANKA, its first domestically-made drone (pictured). It\u2019s the product of an industry that\u2019s largely state-owned but one that is expanding its $14bn-a-year revenues, and creating investment opportunities through privatisation. First for a likely stock market launch is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":67268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[8869,8898,5486],"class_list":["post-67267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey","tag-anka","tag-drone","tag-tai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}