The presence of multinational companies is crucial in bolstering developing economies’ technological know-how all over the world. In its efforts to build indigenous capabilities, Turkey too has subscribed to coproduction and technology transfer policies. Such directives are especially necessary in the highly specialized and technical aerospace and defense (A&D) industry, and have been fuelled by the government’s strategic offset requirements and investment incentive schemes.

“During the process of the establishment of the domestic defense industry infrastructure, for the production of military weapons, vehicles, and ammunition, Turkey preferred to cooperate and co-produce with countries and companies that were seen as the leaders in this sector. This enabled many defense projects like MILGEM (the Turkish warship program), the ALTAY main battle tank, attack helicopter program, ATAK, and several unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) projects to be successfully executed by our national defense industry,” said Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey (ISPAT) president Arda Ermut.