Foreign Investor Guide
Reference: Presidency of the Republic of Turkey Investment office www.invest.gov.tr
DEFENSE & AVIATION
19 billion USD
- Turkey's total defense spending in 2018.
8,8 billion USD
- Total turnover in Turkey's defense and aerospace industry in 2018.
2,2 billion USD
- Total export value in Turkey's defense and aerospace industry in 2018.
21 billion USD
- Turkey's total turnover in civil aviation services in 2018.
515
- The number of aircraft in Turkey's civil aviation fleet.
210 million
- Number of passengers traveling by air in Turkey in 2018.
The Turkish defense and aviation industry has undergone a comprehensive transformation in the last decade. Today, Turkey is one of the fastest developing countries in the fields of defense and aerospace, with its unique achievements in recent years. The experience and the importance given to quality by Turkish defense and aviation companies, which have undertaken many different initiatives, offer products that compete on a global scale, and play key roles in international projects, are obvious. Turkish companies are able to offer global solutions to many countries that meet their local needs with their qualified workforce and superior technology infrastructure. These Turkish companies operate in many critical areas of the defense and aviation industry, from original design development to domestic production, modernization to modification, R&D studies to international projects.
The preferred working method in the years when the infrastructure of the domestic defense industry was established was to cooperate with countries and companies that came to the forefront in the international arena and to make joint production. This approach has enabled the national defense industry to successfully carry out many defense projects such as MİLGEM warship, ALTAY main battle tank, ATAK helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Taking advantage of these experiences, Turkey has started to sign domestic projects such as ANKA unmanned aerial vehicle, HÜRKUŞ light attack and armed reconnaissance aircraft GÖKTÜRK satellite, light class general purpose helicopter and fighter jet. In addition, projects have been initiated to develop some important subsystems and technologies to support these programs. Today, the Turkish defense industry has reached a highly developed position in terms of its facilities, quality and competence, with the contribution of many domestic projects it has developed. The Turkish defense industry both meets the needs of the Turkish Armed Forces and is among the important players in the international defense market, where high competition is experienced. In the coming years, when important national defense projects will be completed, the share of the Turkish defense industry in domestic and foreign markets will also increase.
Turkey is one of the countries with the highest spending on defense. With defense spending of US $ 19 billion in 2018, Turkey ranked 15th among the world's largest defense budgets. The defense industry's business volume has doubled in the last decade, reaching USD 8.8 billion in 2018. In parallel with the developments in the Turkish aviation and defense sector in the last decade, export and international cooperation opportunities for Turkish companies have also increased. The exports of the sector, which was 600 million USD in 2007, increased to 2.2 billion USD in 2018. Thanks to its advanced and qualified production capacity, the total amount of orders received by the sector reached USD 12.2 billion in 2018.
Over the years, Turkey has also become an ideal environment for the civil aviation business. The number of passengers of the airline companies, which was 34 million in 2004, increased to 210.2 million in 2018, including 97.2 million international passengers. Airline fleet size increased from 162 to 515 between 2003 and 2018, while the number of civilian aircraft increased from 626 to 1,404. During the same period, civil aviation business volume increased from USD 2.2 billion to USD 21 billion. Turkey is committed to becoming a center for civil aviation. The new airport built in Istanbul is the world's largest airport with a capacity of 200 million passengers per year and flights to approximately 350 destinations.
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