Turkey’s defense exports reach record levels in 2022, Erdogan says
Turkey’s president is touting the country's defense exports, which have reached a record high.
Turkey’s defense exports reached $4.4 billion last year, the country's highest level ever, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday.
“Our defense exports … reached $4.4 billion, breaking a record,” Erdogan said at a delivery ceremony for six next-generation Firtina howitzers in Turkey’s northwestern province of Sakarya. The howitzers were locally manufactured by the joint Qatari-Turkish venture BMC.
Erdogan added that the total budget of defense industry projects exceeded $60 billion with R&D spending reaching some $1.5 billion annually. Ismail Demir, the head of the Presidency of Defense Industries, said last week that they were aiming to increase export revenues to at least $6 billion in 2023. Turkey registered $3.2 billion export turnover in 2021.
Indigenous aerial vehicles, particularly Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 armed drones manufactured by Baykar, which is owned by the family of Erdogan’s younger son-in-law, have significantly contributed to the annual turnover.
