NUROL TEKNOLOJİ - Turkey`s Leader in Advanced Ceramics Manufacturing & Ballistic Protective Solutions

In this interview, we talk with Selim BAYBAŞ, CEO and Board Member at NUROL TEKNOLOJİ, a Nurol Holding company established in 2008 to produce advanced ballistic ceramics with 100% domestic capital.  2022 kicked off with an intense delivery plan at home and abroad. As an R&D driven company the company not only focuses on innovation but also has invested in recruitment for the future with the implementation of long-term internship programs to recruit the brightest minds in Turkey.  

Defence Turkey: Can you briefly evaluate NUROL TEKNOLOJI’s 2021 financial performance? Did you hit your year-end targets?

Selim BAYBAŞ: As NUROL TEKNOLOJI, our major and most critical goal is the interest of our country. We use our ballistic ceramic production and armor systems solution capabilities primarily for domestic needs and the needs of friendly and allied countries. We achieved our planned targets for 2021 with the products we delivered both at home and to our allied countries.

Defence Turkey: NUROL TEKNOLOJI designs and produces personal ballistic protection and structural ballistic protection solutions with "National" and "Domestic" facilities.  Can you briefly summarize the highlights of 2021 for our readers?

Selim BAYBAŞ: In 2021, under the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, defense needs increasingly continued at home and abroad. In line with such needs, we made investments in our factory and increased our capacity. We accomplished the related deliveries under our commitments. In this regard, we continued to expand our domestic and international trade volume in 2021 as well.

As one of the highlights of 2021, our R&D center, which is the basis of the ballistic protective solutions we design and produce, was registered by the Ministry of Industry and Technology as Turkey's 1,245th  R&D Center in January 2021.

Defence Turkey: In light of the fact that the only path to sustainability is continued innovation, can you inform us about NUROL TEKNOLOJI's approach to R&D and its annual R&D budget? As a company, which new technologies are you focusing on to produce armor solutions with international high protection standards within the scope of R&D?

Selim BAYBAŞ: NUROL TEKNOLOJI has been an R&D-driven company from the first day of its establishment. It has always been one of the firsts in terms of the products it offers to the market. This requires critical research and development activities and processes. Accordingly, we have designed all the infrastructure and related processes to meet this requirement. At the beginning of 2021, upon obtaining R&D center status following the approval of our Ministry of Industry and Technology, the R&D culture that is the building block of our company's DNA has been registered. Certainly, as a requirement of this status, we aimed to achieve a certain level in our expenditures. In line with this goal, we plan to increase our R&D budget from 8-digit figures in TRY to 9-digit figures in the coming years. Here, I must express that the most critical aspect is the quality of our workforce rather than the availability of a wide range of equipment and machinery. As you are also aware, the core of R&D is the competence and motivation of the workforce. For this purpose, we have implemented long-term internship programs to recruit the brightest minds of our country. We are also adding new ones to such initiatives by developing strategic collaborations with the leading academic institutions in our country.

In terms of design capabilities, computational engineering methods and approaches are a particular area of focus for us. We included analytical and numerical approaches and experimental methods in our ballistic armor design methods. Today, it is possible to achieve design optimization by simulating physical events (such as collisions) with high-performance computers. We know that by mathematical formulations of the physics underlying terminal ballistic events, we can achieve results very close to reality, and even exactly the same results as what actually happens if the material data used is reliable. We aim to bring ballistic design to the digital environment by combining these methods with the latest developments in material technology.

Defence Turkey: What can you tell us about your 2022 expectations and goals as well as your planned domestic and international deliveries in 2022?

Selim BAYBAŞ: The year 2022 started with an intense delivery plan at home and abroad. We continue the delivery of full-protection ballistic vests to the Security General Directorate, as the backlog from previous years. In addition, we are conducting the delivery of ballistic protective products for the Gendarmerie General Command and ballistic products for the security personnel of different units of the Turkish Armed Forces and Security General Directorate, as planned. In addition to the deliveries at home, we are also delivering our own ballistic protective products to countries in different geographies, especially NATO countries, abroad.

Defence Turkey: NUROL TEKNOLOJI is the only company in Turkey and one of the few companies in the world that can design and manufacture advanced ballistic armor solutions produced with boron carbide, silicon carbide and alumina ceramics. Can you also evaluate the company’s position and competitive power, and can you share some details such as the export value of your products per kilogram? Previously, the kilogram value of boron carbide ceramics developed and produced with “National” and “Domestic” facilities was announced as US$ 90.

Selim BAYBAŞ: We are one of the few ballistic solution manufacturers in the world, using only ballistic ceramics that we produce. We offer cost-effective high performance with our products at all levels made up of ballistic rigid plates, shield panels, vehicle platform armor panels.

Additionally, we supply products to the world's leading ballistic solution manufacturers. We develop custom ballistic ceramics that we design and produce as per their requirements. As you mentioned, the kilogram value of the “Turkish Miracle” boron carbide ceramics we produce is around US$ 90. One of our major goals is to increase this value even more and to contribute to our country’s economy.

Defence Turkey: NUROL TEKNOLOJI was previously selected to deliver ballistic protection plates within the scope of the Italian Army’s Future Soldier Program, and has also carried out projects such as the military vehicle armoring project carried out with Pakistani company H.I.T., the ballistic vest project of the Czech Republic Ministry of Defense and the ballistic vest and other protective equipment project of the Royal Saudi Land Forces. What can you tell us about your main ongoing export activities as well as your deliveries to NATO member countries such as Germany, Italy and Poland?

Selim BAYBAŞ: We continue to supply ballistic plates that provide NIJ Sv4 protection within the scope of the Italian Army Ballistic Protection Plate Supply project, which is one of our long-term export agreements. We also signed the Ballistic Protection Plate Agreement, which will continue for the next 5 years.

We have concluded our export agreement to meet the needs of the Polish Security Forces for 2 years. Our deliveries of ballistic protective plates with different levels of protection will continue increasingly for the Polish Security Forces and the Polish Army.

We became the successful bidder in the tender to meet the ballistic shield needs of the Dutch Special Operations Team. Our “Ballistic Protective Shield” product attracted great attention from end users during the tender process, bringing innovative solutions where lightness and full protection were critical, together with those in need.

We have successfully completed the delivery of ballistic plates with the high protection level requested by the German Customs Police unit.

We continue our deliveries in the Protector military personnel carrier project, which we signed with Pakistani company H.I.T., and we continue to work as the sole solution partner within the scope of additional orders. With the new concept projects that we are working on, we will deliver our high technology armor systems also for different design and protection levels to H.I.T. within the scope of both vehicle platform protection and personnel protection projects.

The qualification activities for our Advanced Technical Ceramic products have been completed by European leading ballistic solution companies. With our high-volume production capacity and sustainable quality capabilities, we carry out our strategic agreements for the supply of ballistic ceramics that will meet all kinds of protection requirements.

We follow up closely the NATO tenders and tenders in allied countries. We continue our export activities in a way that will make a difference with our high capacity and experience in ballistic products.

Defence Turkey: Can you inform us about NUROL TEKNOLOJI’s air platform capabilities and activities, continues its production activities in four different fields, namely Advanced Technical Ceramics, Personnel Protection, Vehicle Protection and Structural Protection, and its recent deliveries? As far as we know, the company previously armored some of the Black Hawk Helicopters in the service of the Turkish Police Aviation Department, conducted negotiations for exterior armoring for some of the Bell 429 Helicopters (due to the narrower cabin compared to the Black Hawk), and it was selected for seat armoring of the GÖKBEY T625 Turkish Utility Helicopters.

Selim BAYBAŞ: Solutions regarding the protection of air platforms are one of our areas of interest. We carried out various helicopter armoring activities in previous years. We aim to transfer the experience gained here to our cooperation with TUSAŞ. Air platforms are a very special field by nature and some solution providers avoid conducting activities in this field due to the strict certification requirements of aviation. For us, on the contrary, the more challenging the demands of our customers are, both in terms of engineering and the quality processes to be adhered to, the more attractive it becomes.

In this framework, we are the selected subcontractor for the seat armoring of the GÖKBEY helicopter, one of TUSAŞ's favorite projects. In this respect, we have completed the seat armor design for GÖKBEY. We are conducting platform integration tests with the prototype developed for the verification stage where we will verify numerous challenging requirements of the project in terms of both mechanical design and ballistic protection.

On the other hand, we are in talks with TUSAŞ for the armoring of other air platforms. The Heavyweight Attack Helicopter ATAK-2 comes to the forefront here. With our ability to produce the most suitable ceramic and composite solutions in terms of lightness, we want to further reinforce the trust we have built in our customers in the field of air platform protection solutions.

Defence Turkey: Do you also take part in the T129 ATAK and T929 ATAK II Attack Helicopter Programs regarding the armoring requirements? Are there any requirements identified for T129 versions for the Philippine Air Forces and Pakistan Land Forces?

Selim BAYBAŞ: Yes, we are proudly involved in this project. In this phase of the project, the related requirements and threats were identified. We completed the preliminary design activities in line with these requirements and performed the ballistic verification of our preliminary solution. With our lightest solutions, we armor the floor, cockpit and bucket, ammunition storage area together with ammunition channels of the weapon system. The projects we have successfully implemented previously are of critical references for us. We use the lessons learned here in all other ballistic protection projects. For this reason, air platform projects are of particular importance for us.

Defence Turkey: Do you have any overseas activities, completed and/or ongoing, in the field of armoring of naval platforms? Is NUROL TEKNOLOJI involved in export projects such as the Pakistan Navy's BABUR and the Ukraine Navy's MILGEM/ADA Class Corvette Projects?

Selim BAYBAŞ: Within the scope of naval platforms protection solutions, our Ballistic Protection Armor projects, which we have developed and carried out with the Presidency of Defense Industries, STM, ASFAT, Naval Forces Command and Private Shipyards, have proven themselves in ADA-Class, I-class and several other platforms.

As NUROL TEKNOLOJİ, I would like to share with great pride that we have successfully executed activities to protect the territorial waters of our country and allied countries, with the project deliveries we have accomplished and the strategic cooperation agreements we have made. Our products continue to be used in international markets and are preferred as qualified products for new projects.

Defence Turkey: Can you briefly inform us about the Modular Bunker (MODKOR) which you unveiled at IDEF'21 Fair? You developed this solution to meet easy-to-carry-and-install protection needs for base areas and control points and for protection missions.  What type of feedback have you received from the user (Turkish Police) regarding the two MODKOR prototypes you delivered, which were recently subjected to a series of fire and blast tests?

Selim BAYBAŞ: The Modular Bunker (MODKOR) is an easily portable and installable modular protection system that can be used in base areas, control points and for protection missions with intense threat potential.

MODKOR was designed with the aim of providing maximum protection at any point with its 15-minute quick installation feature for our Forces and Police and is a portable product that can be configured according to different ground structures and threats.

MODKOR is an innovative product that provides protection against particle impacts and environmental conditions, its easily portable and installable, and can be configured according to various conditions, and it has attracted the attention of users.

We have successfully qualified the protection provided by our product against a kinetic energy penetrator, and explosives such as TNT and grenades, in our accredited laboratory and in the field.

We carry out our efforts with the operational units of the Turkish Police Special Operations and Gendarmerie General Command and the operational units of the Land Forces Command.  The MODKOR product is qualified against high threat levels and we provide it to the user and test it in the field, and we complete the product concept with the feedback from the field.

Defence Turkey: What can you tell us about your armoring activities for ground vehicles and the recent deliveries you have made to both domestic and international customers?

Selim BAYBAŞ:  We design and produce our ballistic ceramics in accordance with the requirement sets defined within the scope of vehicle platform projects. We test the ceramics we produce in our own accredited ballistic laboratories by turning them into hybrid armor solutions with ballistic composite products and with high technology production methods.

Collaborating with the platform manufacturers with the co-design method, we maximize the protection areas on the platforms. With our analysis capability, we can analyze the kinetic energy shots which we simulate, together with the behavior of our solution, reduce our solution costs by driving the design activities accordingly, and optimize the design processes leading to the solution.

As NUROL TECHNOLOJI, we built solution partnerships with the leading Ground Vehicle manufacturers in the country and abroad for various technical requirements in 2021. For the year 2022, we continue our efforts, production activities and deliveries as a complement to sustainable ballistic protection with strategic collaborations.

We continue to produce our "proven" ballistic protection armor for several ongoing projects and develop our solution portfolio for potential projects.

Defence Turkey: Is there any message you would like to add for our readers? 

Selim BAYBAŞ: Bringing its domestic and national power together with technology, NUROL TEKNOLOJI has its own inventions, experience and significant innovation projects. As a ballistic ceramic and ballistic solution producer, we will ensure the use of national technologies to the maximum extent in covering the needs of operational areas. We will continue to "Protect the Good" in the future as we do today