Ahmet Akyol, CEO of ASELSAN, announced that they will inventory more Steel Dome components in 2025, stating, “Last year, we managed to keep the products we nationalized in Turkey, and for the first time, the forex that stayed in the country reached the $1 billion mark. With this, we achieved an average cost advantage of 22% at ASELSAN.” Presenting at the “International Economic Summit” held in Sapanca, a panel titled “The Future of Defense Technologies in Light of Changing Concepts” was organized. In the panel, Ahmet Akyol, CEO of ASELSAN, Burak Mercan, the General Manager of Altınay Defense Technologies AŞ, Osman Okyay, the President of the Defense and Aerospace Industry Manufacturers Association (SASAD) and Vice Chairman of the Kale Group, and Muhammed Selman Dönmez, a Board Member of Pacific Technology, delivered speeches. During his speech, Akyol pointed out that by the end of last year, $25 trillion in commodity trade was conducted worldwide. He emphasized, “The struggle to share a part of the trade pie, and the awareness that ‘we must gain competencies to protect ourselves,’ have made the defense industry important.” Akyol stated, “The investments made recently, along with the resources allocated here, provide us with the potential to build our strong army, strong economy, and strong defense industry in this new atmosphere.” He added, “At present, we are working on a system that can decide based on artificial intelligence, communicate it as ‘Military 5G’ without any delay, analyze each set of threats and counter it with the correct engagement method and proper weapon; a system with layered, different sensors, and different weapon systems in the new order, on the new planet, in the newly formed terrain for our country’s survival. This year, we will inventory more subcomponents and systems, along with Steel Dome components. Our project is progressing successfully.” ASELSAN AMONG THE TOP 10 FASTEST-GROWING COMPANIES Mentioning that last year, they signed $6.5 billion worth of new contracts and reached an approximately $14 billion “backlog” volume, Akyol said that with an 18% growth in dollars, they managed to become among the top 10 fastest-growing companies in the global defense industry. Akyol explained that they implement a policy of investing approximately $250 million annually, creating almost 1000 additional qualified jobs, and allocating 7% of the revenues to self-funded R&D with determination. “We continue sustainable growth through increasing productivity, localization, orientation towards value-added products, and substantial investments.” $1 BILLION STAYS IN TURKEY WITH NATIONALIZED PRODUCTS Stating that last year, for the first time, the forex from the products nationalized stayed in Turkey reached the $1 billion mark, Akyol said, “At ASELSAN, we have achieved an average cost advantage of 22% with this.” Akyol expressed their desire to crown growth and development with European-based partnerships. He added, “We have now begun to negotiate specific partnerships in various countries in Europe. ASELSAN’s growth last year will continue to focus on exports. We aim to accelerate this slightly with Europe and the first quarter of this year is already showing some results. The high-volume, sustainable growth we achieved last year is continuing in the first quarter.” “THERE IS A SERIOUS DEMAND FOR TURKISH DEFENSE PRODUCTS” Burak Mercan, the General Manager of Altınay Defense Technologies AŞ, emphasized that in Turkey, a growing technological depth, an independent, self-sufficient, and sustainable defense industry infrastructure has created significant demand and appreciation worldwide for the products developed over the last 20 years due to the strategy pursued. Mercan stated, “The progression in our country correlated with security concerns, while combining with the strategy Turkey has put forward over the last 20 years, has generated an internal demand movement as well as serious demand abroad for Turkish defense products, technologies, and Turkish engineers.” Mercan highlighted that security expenditures resulting from security concerns in the Middle East, North Africa, Southeast Asia, and recently Europe, actually present a significant potential for Turkey, and the companies operating in Turkey. He said, “Although Europe has a better position in terms of technological depth, they are not currently at the same level as us in terms of industrial capacity. Hence, we have good potential compared to them. I consider that, in the coming period, our country and the companies operating in our country may have a significant opportunity from Europe’s perspective.” Muhammed Selman Dönmez, a Board Member of Pacific Technology, noted that Turkey has made visionary investments in the defense industry and technology in the last 20 years. Dönmez emphasized, “Although the crisis between America and China is primarily an economic crisis, the countries that will act as balancing elements in this war will be those with a strong defense industry and technology, I say it apart from economic power. Considering this fact, the potential of Turkey and the importance of its current position in this war are felt intensively by all of us. I think we can say that this stems mainly from a visionary perspective through investment in defense and technology made over a span of 20 years.” Osman Okyay, the President of SASAD and Vice Chairman of the Kale Group, pointed out that deterrence is the primary reason behind countries investing in the defense industry. He stated that the definition of deterrence has shifted into more abstract areas recently.