The "Turboshaft Test and Subsystems Workshop", hosted by the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) and TEI and with the support of Erciyes Technopark, was held at the TEI Eskişehir Campus on February 10, 2020.

Özdemir ÇAKACAK, Governor of Eskişehir, SSB Department Head of Engine and Power Transmission Systems Yakup ERTAŞ, TEI President and CEO Prof. Mahmut F. AKŞİT, officials from the SSB and universities and private sector company representatives attended the workshop.

Delivering a speech at the opening ceremony, Özdemir ÇAKACAK, Governor of Eskişehir wished success to all participating company representatives in their activities and said, “Our country has achieved significant progresses in recent years, especially in the defense industry, and from education to health, from transportation to industry, from trade to tourism. Eskişehir is one of the important centers of our country in high-tech product exports, especially in rail systems and aerospace/aviation. The enterprises that have made substantial investments, such as TEI, have been contributing to the economy and employment of our country by carrying out important activities. Turkey is located in one of the world's most important regions in the world. When we look at the history, our ancestors suffered a lot in every period of our history to make and maintain these lands a homeland for us. Today, under the leadership of our President, the Turkish defense industry has reached a level capable of producing its own needs. There is nothing this nation fails to do in unity and solidarity. I hope this nation will be at the level it deserves also by meeting the targets of 2023 and 2071 with the unity and solidarity of our industrialists.”

Taking the floor at the ceremony, SSB Department Head of Engine and Power Transmission Systems Yakup ERTAŞ said, “We conduct workshops when needed throughout the Turboshaft Engine Development Project, which we initiated as the SSB, and this is our second workshop for this project. In this workshop, we will be seeking how we utilize the industry for test infrastructures and other sub-systems, and how we transform them into domestic products. I would like to thank all the industry representatives for being here and I wish the negotiations will be fruitful.”

TEI President and CEO Prof. Mahmut F. AKŞİT also delivered a speech and said, “Today we organize our second workshop within the scope of our project, hopefully we will organize the engine delivery ceremony instead of our third workshop, and that time is near. In this workshop, we want to carry out our meetings in a more specialized way than the previous one. We want to satisfy our engine test systems and engine sub-systems needs with our domestic and national facilities. I believe today will be an important occasion for our indigenization and nationalization efforts. I wish all the meetings to take place today will be beneficial and our national helicopters will fly with the parts to be produced also by you.”

Following the speeches, SSB Turbine Systems Manager Bedriye CİCİOĞLU and TEI Turboshaft Programs Director Dr. Mehmet DEMİROĞLU made presentations about the project and the workshop.

Within the scope of the Turboshaft Engine Development Project, which was launched in 2017 and is being carried out within the scope of the Indigenous Helicopter Program to meet the engine needs of the GÖKBEY helicopter with domestic facilities, another important leap has been achieved with the bilateral talks during the workshop organized by TEI, the main contractor of the project, under the auspices of the SSB, and for the increase of domestic and national possibilities for the TS1400, Turkey's first national helicopter engine, in order to ensure the continuation of the project.