Aselsan to Produce Indigenous Infrared Detectors for Thermal Cameras
The facility established in Aselsan MGEO Akyurt Facilities, which is capable of conducting production activities with micro and nanotechnology, was opened at an official ceremony. National Defence Minister Mr. İsmet Yılmaz, Minister of Science, Industry and Technology Mr. Fikri Işık, Aselsan’s Chairman of the Board Mr. Hasan Canbolat, Aselsan CEO Cengiz Ergeneman, one of the prominent architects of the project Middle East Technical University (METU) faculty member Prof. Cengiz Beşikçi, representatives of Turkish Armed Forces and universities attended the opening ceremony of Aselsan Infrared Detector Production Facilities bearing “national and critical” technologies.
In his speech at the ceremony, Minister of National Defence Mr. İsmet Yılmaz pointed out the level of advanced technology reached in Turkey with the mass production of detectors and said, “Our goal is to increase our country’s technological competence. We need to allocate more resources to R&D and continue this ever-lasting progress”. Yılmaz mentioned that 1,2 billion USD allocated annually to defence industry and that in order to boost this industry, more share has to be allocated to R&D. Yılmaz mentioned that a lot of Turkish companies are capable of competing internationally and continued, “Turkey became the fifth country that is capable of producing indigenous thermal cameras in the world. We need to produce higher added value in order to reach the target of 36 billion USD in defence industry exports”.
Aselsan Vice President Özcan Kahramangil mentioned that this facility was a result of the nationalization of defence industry during his speech and said “Turkey is now capable of producing her own detector. Our next goal is to become one of the leading countries producing such technologies”. Kahramangil also added that this technology acquired shall contribute greatly to the accomplishment of export targets determined with the vision of 2023.
Foreign-Source Dependency in Optical and Infrared Detectors Abolished
First studies in our country for the development of infrared detector technology were launched in 1999 with the scientific contributions of Bilkent University and METU under the leadership of Ministry of National Defence. As a result of these studies conducted by Bilkent University and METU and bearing strategic importance, it has been proved that such technologies could be developed through national resources and a certain level of maturity was reached with the support of Ministry of National Defence, Ministry of Development and Aselsan. Applied R&D studies related to the product were conducted within the scope of R&D projects supported by TUBITAK and University-Industry cooperation. Transfer to mass production studies as an important constituent of industrialization were completed in parallel with the R&D studies. For the production of infrared detectors, a “Clean Room” with required systems and equipment was set up in Aselsan on an area of 1500 square meters namely the “Indigenous Infrared Detector Production Center”. In this end, part of the long-running academic studies were transferred to the industry and first indigenous infrared detectors were produced through the utilization of national resources and were successfully integrated with the existing systems of Turkish Armed Forces’ inventory. Through this step towards the nationalization of infrared detectors varying based on different usages, the barriers in production and export will be lifted.
Turkey Increasing the Depth in Critical Technologies
The infrared detectors –most critical component of thermal cameras- are composed of hundreds of thousands of receivers in micro and nano scales. The infrared detectors capable of perceiving the micro heat temperature differences radiated by objects in night, day and tough weather conditions with low visibility, invisible objects could be observed. Production of infrared detectors requires the cooperation of several disciplines, high quality personnel and an advanced infrastructure having high technology. As a result of 15 year-long studies, Turkey became the fifth country to have such critical technologies in the world.
All environmental conditions such as heat, dust and moisture that affect production are taken under control in the Clean Room and the thermal cameras that use the produced infrared detectors have been successfully taken into the inventory of Turkish Armed Forces.
