Empowered by the 65,000 industrial companies based in Istanbul and their aim to create a synergistic, the SAHA Istanbul Defense and Aerospace Cluster Association was launched in March with the involvement of 27 founding partners and with the support of NGOs including İTO, İSO, DTO and TİM. The cluster aims to increase the number of its members to 300 within a year and is based at Teknopark Istanbul, which is established  by the partnership of the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM) and the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO).

There is an ever-increasing need to increase the competitiveness and productivity of the Turkish defence and aerospace industry. To achieve this goal, we need a more qualified and better-focused human sources that is capable of delivering high-tech products through cooperation.  Specifically, we need national and regional initiatives backed by state incentive to market these products globally.