Kale Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Engine Facility Opened in Izmir
The partnership of Kale Group, one of the pioneer companies of Turkish industry, and Pratt & Whitney, a leading global aerospace company, opened its facilities at the Aegean Free Zone to build F135 engine components for the F-35 fighter aircraft.
President Abdullah Gül joined the grand opening of the facility together with founder and Honorary President of Kale Group Ibrahim Bodur, Kale Group President & CEO Zeynep Bodur Okyay, Kale Technical Department President Osman Okyay, P&W Military Engines Group President Bennett M. Croswell, P&W Military Engines Group VP Jill M. Albertelli and many military and defence officials.
The groundbreaking of the facility took place in May 2011 and was also attended by President Gül. Kale Group, which owns 51% stake in the new joint venture, and P&W, which owns 49%, invested 75 million USD into the new 13,600 m2 open and a 101,000 m2 closed area facility with currently 123 employees and an employment target of 700 at the end of the first 5 years.
Critical components of the F135 engines for the F35s to be manufactured at this facility
The F35 is considered as the highest budgeted defence industry project of all times and is seen as the only 5th generation aircraft project to be developed up to now. The Izmir facility will manufacture the critical engine components of the F135 for the F35s.
Entering the aerospace and defence sector with the Stinger Project in 1987, the Kale Group won the right to take part in the F35 Project, considered as the most important global military aviation project, in 2005 with Kale Aerospace Inc. By undertaking the manufacturing of over 200 critical body and wing components, the Kale Group has assumed the position of a key player in this project. Today, the Kale Group with its investments in the Izmir plant has taken its first step in the aircraft engine industry as well.
Speaking at the ceremony Ibrahim Bodur said: “We believe in industry and are dedicated to it as a group because commerce makes individuals wealthy and industry makes societies wealthy. This is contained in our philosophy. I feel sad that in the last few years interest in industry has declined in our country. Only with investments in advanced technology can we become a respected member of the world. Whatever is new and best in the world our industry must have as well.” Kale Technical Division President Osman Okyay provided important information on their defence industry investments. Okyay said: “We are manufacturing first-level, critical airframe and wing components for the world’s largest aviation firms, such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Airbus. Again, in this sector, with the Kale Baykar partnership, we are the first manufacturers of the national UAVs that have entered the inventory of the TSK. We are now at the serial production stage of the National Infantry Rifle. The National Machine Gun, fuel cell and the lithium-ion battery development projects are on-going. Together with this investment in the aerospace sector, we have entered the aircraft engine industry. All of these activities show how much we, as the Kale Group, look strategically at this sector.”
Stating that they see Turkey as a rising star in its region and the future’s leading nation, Okyay went on to add: “While our country is moving towards being among the 10 largest economies in the world in 2023, there is a great need for high value-added innovative industrial investments. In this sense, the defence and aerospace industry is of critical importance. For, among the top 10 global economies there is no single nation that does not have an advanced defence and aerospace industry. We are determined to be one of the basic building blocks in innovative growth in this sector. The experience and the technology we have reached up to now make us very, very hopeful of tomorrow.” P&W’s Bennett M. Croswell said the following: “The Kale P&W partnership is establishing a facility that provides the opportunity to manufacture military engine components to our customers at the best price that is also at world standards. In preparing to reach the manufacturing stage in the F135 engines, we are very happy to have found a business partner in the Kale Group that will provide us with high-quality parts while meeting cost targets. This investment is very appropriate for our global vision and growth strategy.”
Able to operate on the “one-stop-shop” principle, where its technology and process wealth is self-sufficient, the Kale Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Engine Industry facility will bring a competitive advantage in many areas. The plant will have innovative manufacturing technologies such as electron beam welding, titanium hot forming machine and plasma coating machine in which some are not even available in Europe.
