Turkish Defence Industry Participates in Force at Eurosatory 2014
Eurosatory 2014, the Land and Air-Land Defence and Security Exhibition, was held in Paris between the dates of June 16 and 20, 2014. A trade show of world acclaim, this year’s Eurosatory 2014 had six new countries exhibiting; the show more than answered the expectations of professional visitors and governmental officials. The show had 1,504 exhibitors from 58 countries, and more than 55 thousand visitors. Eurosatory 2014 hosted 172 official visits from 88 countries across its grounds of 175,000 m2. Exhibiting companies showed the latest technologies in land and air-land systems.
Total of 36 Turkish Companies Exhibit at the Show
The Eurosatory ranks among the top five shows for the defence industry. This year, a total of 36 Turkish companies participated in the show, under the auspices of the Defence and Aerospace Industry Exporters Association (SSI) of Turkey as had also been the case for the previous show held in 2012. A total of 17 Turkish firms had participated in the 2012 show; this year, the number more than doubled. In terms of participating countries, Turkey ranked seventh, increasing its ranking by 10 spots compared to the 2012 ranking. Turkish defence firms had the opportunity to exhibit their new products. The MKEK MPT-76 (National Infantry Rifle) produced by the Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKEK) of Turkey made its debut. The rifle recently entered into use by the Turkish Armed Forces. Otokar, a Turkish manufacturer of military vehicles and buses, exhibited its Arma 6x6 and 8x8, Cobra II and Ural armoured combat vehicles, as well as its turret systems. For Otokar, this was the first showing in Europe of the Cobra II vehicle with its desert camouflage pattern, the tactical wheeled armoured vehicle Ural, and its new turret systems. The Başok-762 Remotely Controlled Weapon Station was featured atop the Ural vehicle, the Bozok-MKT 25 and the Mızrak-30 turret systems were mounted on the Arma 6x6 and 8x8 vehicles, respectively, and the Keskin turret system atop the Cobra II vehicle. Turkish missile and rocket producer Roketsan exhibited its cruise missile SOM (Stand-Off Missile), the 70 mm laser-guided missile Cirit, the long-range anti-tank missile Mızrak-U and several types of its rocket technologies.
New Era of Cooperation Planned Between Turkey and France
Prof. İsmail Demir, Undersecratary for Turkish Defence Industries (SSM) and Mr. Latif Aral Aliş, The Chairman of Defence and Aerospace Industry Exporters Association of Turkey, met with companies and took part in committee visits. On the first day of the show, Prof. Demir and his entourage visited the French Ministry of Defence booth and obtained information on the land systems in use by the French army. Prof. Demir also met with Mr. Laurent Collet-Billon, head of the French government’s defence procurement agency DGA (Délégué Général de l’Armement - General Directorate for Armement) concerning possible business opportunities between French and Turkish defence industries. Undersecretary Prof. Demir stated to reporters that no specific area of cooperation with France had yet been established, but that both sides were open to instituting a joint military committee in the near future which would further study areas of cooperation between the two countries. Prof. Demir also stated that the positive environment currently existing with respect to the political relations between the two countries should be capitalized on, and that it would serve well to create a road map.
Following his meeting with the head of DGA, the Undersecretary visited the exhibition booth for the French Safran Group and received information on the company’s FLIR, ammunition and border security technologies and military electronics and avionics systems. Undersecretary Prof. Demir then visited the exhibition booths of the French light aircraft firm LH Aviation and the Turkish firm Vestel Defence Industry exhibiting its ground control station; he obtained information regarding the joint venture planned by the two companies. Per the cooperation established between Vestel Defence Industry and LH Aviation, the LH Aviation LH-10 Ellipse pusher configuration aircraft is planned to be transformed into an unmanned version through engineering services to be supplied by Vestel Defence Industry, following feasibility studies. The cooperation is also expected to involve a strategic partnership for the sale, to third countries, of the UAV model planned to be developed.
Undersecretary for Defence Industries Prof. İsmail Demir made visits to the Turkish companies exhibiting at the fair, examined products in detail, obtained information on the capabilities of each company and met with company officials. Undersecretary Prof. Demir also played host to visits by the French Ministry of Defence to the booths of Turkish defence companies exhibiting at the fair.
The next Eurosatory show is planned to take place in Paris during the dates of 13 to 17 June 2016.
