Defence Turkey: Dear Mr. Aktaş, firstly we would like to thank you for your time. You were appointed as the Department Head of the recently established Subsystems Department at the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (SSM). Could you inform us on the establishment process, objectives, tasks and responsibilities of the Department of Subsystems?

The nationalisation move of our defence industry has had a prominent impact in our country’s political, military and economic stability and overall achievements of recent years. Turkey has now reached a technological maturity that enables the design and development of its own tanks, missiles, vessels and aircrafts. The robust and competitive integration capability of the main contractors played a major role in reaching this objective.