The first day of the event began with the opening speeches of the Chairman of the Board of OSSA, Ahmet Mithat ERTUĞ, Chairman of the Board of OSTİM, Orhan AYDIN, and Chairman of Ankara Chamber of Commerce, Gürsel BARAN.

Emphasizing that the local content of the Turkish defense industry reached 70%, the Chairman of the Board of OSSA, Ahmet Mithat ERTUĞ, underlined that OSSA will continue to support and provide opportunities for SMEs, "Today, the local content of the Turkish defense industry in meeting the needs of the TAF has exceeded 70%. The sector offers significant opportunities to our SMEs. For this reason, OSSA was established with the joint actions of SMEs that provide goods and services to the defense industry. OSSA continues its efforts to increase domestic production share and make defense industry SMEs competitive in the international market. I hope our event will be a platform where our SMEs and leading industry companies operating in the defense and aerospace industry can create new opportunities."

Stating that the Turkish defense exports reached 3.5 billion dollars last year, the Chairman of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce, Gürsel BARAN, said the expectation for this year is 4 billion dollars. "When we look at what has been accomplished in the defense industry in the last 20 years, we see that there has been great success. More than 800 projects are ongoing in the sector, with an approximate value of 60 billion dollars. The number of countries using our products has exceeded 170, and the number of products we export has surpassed 230. Defense industry exports reached approximately 3.5 billion dollars in 2021, and we expect it to be 4 billion dollars in 2022."

An Effective Platform for Supply Chain-Oriented Cooperation and Business Opportunities

ICDDA features bilateral business meetings, conferences, seminars, and industrial visits to identify target countries and regions with specific requirements and opportunities and translate potential collaborations in the defense and aerospace industries into concrete actions. This fruitful program is essential for highlighting our country's business and investment opportunities.

ICDDA is an effective platform for supply chain-oriented cooperation and taking advantage of business opportunities thanks to the bilateral business meetings scheduled between manufacturers, service providers, and procurement and supply chain officials. By meeting with OEMs, Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers, and related institutions, participating companies will have the chance to showcase their specialized capabilities in the civil and military fields.

During ICDDA 2022, a series of conferences will be held with experienced moderators on topics such as civil aviation, land-naval-air systems, homeland security technologies, sustainability, and supply chain development. The program will continue for three days with B2B meetings and seminars between October 12-14.

ICDDA also offers must-attend panels on the 2nd and 3rd days of the event that provide key knowledge for professionals to comprehend the scientific, industrial, technical, and commercial changes in the market.

260 companies from 60 countries participated in 5700 B2B meetings during the 4th ICDDA event, which lasted from October 23 to 25, 2018. Along with the involvement of the top companies in the industry from Turkey and abroad, government organizations, military authorities, and hundreds of qualified small and medium-sized businesses also took part in the event.