Founded in 2009, NERO Industries serves the defence and aviation industry in the design, production, and qualification of sub-systems for land, sea and air platforms. Today, NERO Industries has become a globally competitive company that exports to more than 20 countries abroad with its steady growth in the last 10 years. 

NERO Industries is continuing its activities with its 12 thousand m2 production and R&D facility in Ankara and its 60 thousand m2 production facility in Sakarya. The amount of investment made by the company in Turkey has exceeded TR25 Million. With the completion of the semiconductor serial production lines, which are being installed at the Sakarya plant, the company’s investment in the country is expected to exceed TR100 Million. The company also has business development offices in Istanbul, Bulgaria, and Saudi Arabia. Nero Industries is making new investments to establish facilities in Bulgaria and Orlando, Florida USA as part of its overseas business development activities. In order to expand into new markets, the company plans to invest a total of US$23 Million by the end of 2019 including US$5 Million for the factory in Sakarya, US$15 Million for the facility in Ankara, US$2.5 Million for the factory in Orlando, and 500 thousand dollars for the facility in Bulgaria.

NERO Industries specializes in niche areas such as power and power distribution systems (Military Generators, Auxiliary Power Units, AC/DC Converters), explosion detection and fire suppression systems, Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) detection and filtration systems and Smoke Launchers and Laser Detection Systems. NERO Industries, with a total of 185-200 employees including 90 engineers, is an approved supplier of the Turkish Armed Forces and various domestic land vehicle manufacturers as well as major international defence companies. With its 6 thousand sub-systems and turnover of TR150 Million in 2018, the company has become the biggest sub-system supplier of Turkey in the field of land vehicles and aims to add value to the Turkish economy with its unique and national systems. The total amount of orders received by the company has reached TR450 Million.

NERO Industries Chairman of the Board Alican ÖKÇÜN and STANDART Test General Manager Öznür ÖKÇÜN met with the members of the press on March 15, at the Bilkent Hotel in Ankara to share information about the company’s unique subsystem solutions, activities and future targets.

NERO Industries Chairman of the Board Alican ÖKÇÜN: “In Explosion Detection and Fire Suppression systems, we are growing by taking the markets of major producers.”

Speaking at the press breakfast, NERO Industries Chairman of the Board Alican ÖKÇÜN stated that they continue their efforts with a motivated and dedicated team to meet the needs of the Turkish Armed Forces. Stating that NERO Industries has three different product families, ARES Explosion Detection and Fire Suppression Systems, ARMA Power Systems, and MARS CBRN (Chemical Biological Radioactive and Nuclear) and Air Filtration Systems, Mr. ÖKÇÜN said that they reached a turnover of TR150 Million in 2018 thanks to the ARES product group. 

Explosion detection and Fire Suppression Systems are produced only by manufacturers in Israel and Germany. Thanks to the ARES system developed and produced by NERO Industries, Turkey became the third country in the world that produces products in this niche area. Underlining that they are aiming to become one of the biggest producers in the world, Mr. ÖKÇÜN stated that they have grown by gaining market shares in these countries.

ARES systems protect more than 2,000 vehicles in the inventory of the Turkish Armed Forces, Gendarmerie General Command and the General Directorate of Security. Having a 95% market share in Turkey, these products also serve in the vehicles of the security forces of 20 different countries. The sub-systems of NERO Industries are used in the various armored vehicles of BMC, FNSS, Otokar, and Katmerciler as well as M60A3 tank, M113 APC and Aselsan’s M60T Tank modernization projects.  

ARES systems also come to the fore with the added value it provides to the industry. Emphasizing that the localization rate of these systems reached 92%, Mr. ÖKÇÜN said: “When we started this business, the Presidency of Defence Industries directed us to work together with the local industry in Ankara. Almost 85% of this product is produced by the local manufacturers and we make the final assembly in our facilities.”

ÖKÇÜN: “We continue our development work for the use of ARES systems in Air and Sea platforms.”

Stating that they continue the development work for the use of domestic ARES systems in Air and Sea platforms, Mr. ÖKÇÜN said: “We are working closely with TAI, I believe our system will be ready next year. There are also requests from the users for the Sea Platforms. So far, we are tasked with localization of the systems on 3 ships. This year we aim to use these domestic systems on 10 vessels.”

ARES Explosion Detection and Fire Suppression Systems - Detects Threats in 3 Milliseconds - Suppress in 250 Milliseconds

ARES Explosion Detection and Fire Suppression system, developed indigenously by NERO Industries, protects the military vehicles against fires and shoulder-fired rocket (RPG) threats.

ARES systems consist of control units, sensors, and extinguishers. The system detects explosions or fires inside the vehicle caused by an attack or an accident with the UV IR infrared optical detectors, developed by Nero Industries, and decides whether the heat or light source is a real fire. If the detector detects a fire or explosion inside the vehicle, it transmits it to the control unit. The control unit discharges the appropriate extinguishers inside the vehicle and eliminates the fire and explosion before the personnel or subsystems inside the vehicle are damaged. During this process, the ARES system detects the explosion in 3 milliseconds and eliminate the threat in less than 250 milliseconds. Detecting the explosion in only 3 milliseconds, the ARES system activates when the fire inside the vehicle is at the size of a golf ball and eliminates further spread. ARES systems are also effective against Molotov cocktails, which are frequently used during riots. The system can activate the extinguishers outside the vehicle against the fires caused by such weapons.

NERO Laser Warning and Smoke Grenade Launcher System will be Exhibited at IDEF’19

The company is also preparing to add a new product to its product family with the knowledge gained from the ARES Explosion Detection and Fire Suppression System project. The cost-effective NERO Laser Warning and Smoke Grenade Launcher system that can be used in Tactical Wheeled and Tracked vehicles will be exhibited at the IDEF 2019 Fair. The system, which provides protection against laser-guided anti-tank missiles, consists of two 180-degree and one 360-degree Laser Warning Receiver and 8 Smoke Grenade Launchers on both sides of the vehicle. NERO Industries is very ambitious about this product, ÖKÇÜN notes that this product will be about one-fifth of the price compared to their counterparts in the market and the system can be applied to all Tactical Wheeled Armored Vehicles, especially the ones in the inventory. 

ARMA Power Systems, which is part of NERO Industries’ product family, consist of Auxiliary Power Unit (APU), Power Distribution Unit and Power Switching Unit. Domestically produced silent generators of NERO are currently used by Aselsan, Havelsan, Roketsan. The 2x1000KW power-generating tactical military silent generator works at 65db at 7 meters.

Being part of the same group with NERO Industries, Standart Test General Manager Öznur ÖKÇÜN also provided valuable information to the press members about the activities they carried out on test infrastructures which are important for the development and certification of indigenous and domestic products.

NERO Industries - Standart Test Activities

One of the other activity areas of the company is testing. In this context, Standart Test was established in 2017 within the same group as NERO Industries with an investment of €5 million for the purpose of carrying out impartial test activities required by the Turkish defence and aviation industry. Standart Test, located in Anadolu OIZ in Ankara, offers various test services within the scope of MIL-STD 810, MIL-STD 461 and MIL-STD 1275 standards with its 2.000 square meter infrastructure.

In the facilities of Standart Test, various tests which cannot be performed in our country before can be carried out now. Thanks to this test infrastructure, the Turkish defence & aviation industry can eliminate foreign dependence and receive services from a completely local establishment as soon as possible.

Turkey’s Largest Test Infrastructure in Volume and Capacity

The facilities of Standart Test have the infrastructure to carry out various important tests. One of these is the 22.5-meters long, 4.9-meters wide and 4 meters high test room with Turkey’s largest volume and the highest heating and cooling capacity. The room enables Standart Test to conduct MIL-STD 810G Standart Tests on military vehicles. This room has a cooling capacity of 180 kW/h and a heating capacity of 200 kW/h. Thanks to its investments, Standart Test has acquired the necessary infrastructure to perform MIL-STD 810G standard shock vibration tests and MIL-STD 461F standard EMI/EMC tests. Standart Test conducts EMI/EMC tests for vehicles with a weight up to 16 tonnes with its 13 x 10 x 6-meter room and carries out shock vibration test for systems weighing from 1.5 tonnes to 22 tonnes in a 200 kN room. Standart Test also has two separate 1 cubic meter test chambers. In one of these chambers, sprinkler and drip tests are carried out and salt fog tests are performed in the other. The facility also conducts MIL-STD 1275D Standart Tests.

Standart Test to Offer its Capabilities to Turkish Defence and Aviation Industry with TRTEST Cooperation

On January 11, Standart Test and TRTEST signed an exclusivity agreement for the use of test infrastructures. Standart Test has become the first company to present its test infrastructure under the coordination of TRTEST. Thus, for the first time, the Turkish Defence and Aviation sector acquired an infrastructure which allows MIL-STD 810G standard solar radiation tests to be carried out on a tactical wheeled armored vehicle.

Thanks to the agreement, the defence and aerospace companies that need to test their products will be able to benefit from the test infrastructures of Standart Test by applying to TRTEST. Standart Test, which adopts the principle of impartiality, will provide services to these companies as an independent organization. With this facility, which has the largest test infrastructure in terms of volume and capacity in Turkey, the tests that could not be performed before could also be carried out for the first time in our country. In this sense, the Turkish Defence and Aviation industry will break loose from foreign dependency. With its highly automated test infrastructure, Standart Test also aims to make very fast returns to the test demands of the companies and to eliminate the long waiting periods in the sector.