BSL is Ready to Provide its Services to Turkish Companies and Military Customers

BSL can be better described as a professional services company, with a range of services centered on outsourcing of human resources and training. The company was born of a requirement stemming from the multi-billion dollar contract inked with BAE Systems by the Qatari Ministry of Defense in 2017 for the delivery of 24 Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft and 9 Hawk jet trainers. 

BSL is headquartered in Doha, but it gazes contemplatively on potential adjacent markets, including Türkiye. The company believes the short and long-term futures for the company are more than encouraging, presenting opportunities for measured, results-oriented growth and the continuance of excellence in the provision of cost-effective and efficient customer support. 

BSL was established in 2019 to support BAE Systems in the delivery of the Qatar Typhoon, Hawk and wider associate training programs in Qatar. BSL plays a critical role by recruiting and employing relevant skilled resources required to deliver this program. 

Defence Turkey: Even as you are fully aware that outsourcing is a new concept in the Turkish defense market you are still exploring the Turkish market. Can you elaborate on BSL approach to Turkish market?

Russell MILLAR: Yes of course, our approach to the Turkish market has two aspects: one of the approaches is to explore supporting the existing Turkish companies operating in Qatar. We recognize that they have current operations to support their platforms and are also exploring new opportunities in Qatar. We in BSL would like to support these companies in the same way we support BAE Systems, through the provision of Human Resource Outsourcing: we can employ their people, and we can provide them with the necessary life support in order for them to carry out their work in Qatar. 

The second approach is, as you have mentioned, that there might be some potential requirements for defense companies operating in Türkiye and perhaps for the Turkish Air Force, should Human Resources Outsourcing become a trend within Türkiye. In any case, we as BSL are ready to provide such services in Turkey, tailored to meet the requirements of Turkey’s regulatory regime.

Defence Turkey: Do you also have any role to find retired Turkish Air Force (TurAF) personnel, trained them in Türkiye and send them to Qatar to serve as maintenance officer/mechanic or technician?

Russell MILLAR: Yes, this is definitely an opportunity we are exploring. In terms of our resource database we are very flexible depending on customer requirements. We can find different candidates and resources from different parts of the world, so as long as they are eligible to be employed in Qatar or somewhere else, we can also work with the Turkish resources.

Erdem AKBAŞ: We recognize that Turkish defense ecosystem is very capable, not only in manufacturing globally competitive, advanced technologies but also in generating highly qualified, skilled resources. In that regard, we are open to utilizing Turkish resources within the scope of our new businesses in Qatar or elsewhere.

Defence Turkey: You have mentioned about the figure of around 140. Is it the total number of personnel that you are going to train or is the figure for the personnel already get training? 

Russell MILLAR: No, this is the total number which we have in Qatar supporting BAE Systems on the Typhoon program. We employ the technicians, engineers, mechanics, all the people that are required to keep the Typhoon aircraft flying. 

Defence Turkey: Is it sufficient to maintain existing Typhoons and Hawk Mk 167s in Qatar? Because 140 people seems not much to deal with both of them?

Russell MILLAR: In total we are talking about 300+ people in Qatar and the UK, which also supports a technical institute, with BSL providing all the relevant human resources: teachers, managers, academics etc. 

Defence Turkey: Are you providing or hiring personal to the Qatar Emiri Air Force, for a certain period of time lets say for one year or two years? Are you focusing on only hiring personnel or on providing total service?

Russell MILLAR: We provide the people to BAE Systems and BAE Systems has the responsibility of the Prime Contract with the Qatar Armed Forces for delivering the program. We search and identify the right resources, bring people to the country, employ them on behalf of our customer and manage resources by providing them with the necessary visa, payrolling, the accommodation, housing, schooling etc.. 

Erdem AKBAŞ: As far as the HR outsourcing is concerned, we are finding the right candidate and employing them for the customer. On the other hand, the customer might have his own team already identified or deployed in Qatar. We can also support our customers by means of employing these teams under our payroll so that these companies are freed from the intricacies of HR administration, management and payrolling obligations by transferring these responsibilities onto BSL. 

Defence Turkey: Have you visited Turkish Military factories? Do you have any contact with ASFAT?  

Erdem AKBAŞ: We have contacted ASFAT, communicated with many Turkish Defense Industry companies and some other government entities. We have already introduced ourselves to the SSB and briefed relevant authorities regarding our activities and aspirations in Qatar and Turkey.

We recognize that we are currently operating in a niche field and HR outsourcing is not something very common in Turkey, however it is quite common in Qatar, GCC and also in some other parts of the world. Trends show that outsourcing services are becoming more prevalent particularly among the companies that are operating globally. In that regard, we believe that the growing Turkish defense industry would explore the benefits and advantages of partnering with companies like BSL in the future.

Defence Turkey: Some global companies and even embassies in Turkey are outsourcing people for the management side and the services and everything. I have another question for the training services. It could be another possibility for you to have a cooperation with the Turkish side do you want to cooperate with one of the training systems providers and then work with Qatar or the other regions as well like HAVELSAN? 

Russell MILLAR: Yes, exactly. We are looking to build a training capability through partnerships with ‘best of breed’ training companies, so we're already speaking with a number of UK and Turkish training providers who could work within the Qatar market. 

Erdem AKBAŞ: We are looking at various aspects of training, such as, the leadership training, vocational training, simulation based training, cybersecurity, etc.. For instance, we are already in contact with HAVELSAN. HAVELSAN already has a project in Qatar and we are regularly communicating with them to discuss the potential cooperation opportunities between our organizations. We recognize that there are some other Turkish companies in the training and simulator fields. We also would like to introduce ourselves to them and explore opportunities together.

Russell MILLAR: Maybe it's worthwhile to mention Bohemia Interactive Simulations (BISim), a simulator and training company 100 percent owned by the BAE Systems. We are also cooperating with them. We are developing our capabilities in the training field as well