The Turkish Defense Industry has gone through various stages by the guidance and decisions made throughout the last three decades. The first stage was mastering the assembly of systems. The second stage was the sharing of production during procurements. Today, the Industry is capable of designing and manufacturing its indigenous products and systems. The next stage is to be an innovative and competitive industry which creates and develops its own concepts. Sadly, it can be said that the industry is slow in the transition to the next stage.  

It is clear that countries which cannot produce their own Defense systems suffer from diplomatic and military difficulties because of their external dependence for national Defense. Turkey has taken considerable steps in leaving this problem behind following a long and costly processes. Nevertheless, avoiding the Available System Trap is Turkey’s main challenge toward achieving indigenous military capability and building a competitive edge in the world.