ASELSAN General Manager Ahmet Akyol announced that the company’s order backlog had risen from $7–8 billion to $23 billion over the past three years. Akyol said they were targeting an order backlog of $30 billion by the end of the year, taking into account ongoing contract talks and potential opportunities.
Akyol said new orders received during the six-month period had reached $4.9 billion, making it one of the company’s record levels. He said the delivery volume of orders received continuously over the past three years was more than double the company’s delivery capacity and noted that they continued to increase the share of exports in total orders.
€60 million investment in the maritime sector
Akyol said ASELSAN had begun additional investments of approximately €60 million this month exclusively for use in the maritime sector, adding that the investments aimed to accelerate production and development processes.
Speaking at the TEKNOFEST Mavi Vatan event area at Gölcük Naval Shipyard Command, Akyol said ASELSAN products were used on 69 ships in Türkiye and on more than 60 ships abroad. He said the maritime activities accounted for approximately one-quarter of the company’s total operations.
Akyol said products including DERİNGÖZ, KILIÇ, MARLIN and ALBATROS had been developed and delivered as part of unmanned surface and underwater systems. He announced that the TUFAN unmanned marine vehicle had been launched into the water and that MARLIN was in the inventory of the Turkish Naval Forces.
New centers being established for underwater systems
Akyol said ASELSAN had built water pools at its facilities in Ankara to test new investments and announced that three facilities and two test infrastructures would be established as part of its investments in the maritime sector. He said the additional investment planned for these projects amounted to €60 million.
Akyol said construction had begun on the vessel being developed domestically under the MİLDEN project in Gölcük and that ASELSAN’s underwater systems integration center would also be established in the same area. He announced that an artificial intelligence, sensor and data processing center was being built in Istanbul in cooperation with the Naval Forces.
Akyol said artificial intelligence would be used in submarine and surface systems, large amounts of data would be collected, and sonar, radar, torpedo, underwater and electronic warfare systems would be tested before being delivered to the Naval Forces. He said the infrastructure to which test ships and floating test platforms would be connected was intended to accelerate production, testing and development.
Production target for air defense systems
Akyol said ÇELİK KUBBE, KORKUT, HİSAR and SİPER systems were on ASELSAN’s air defense agenda. He said ÇELİK KUBBE had a multilayered and integrated structure, with numerous sensors and weapon systems combined through real-time communication and command capabilities, while electronic warfare elements were also incorporated into the structure.
Akyol announced that major contracts had been signed to increase the production and delivery volumes of air defense systems. He said approximately 100 ÇELİK KUBBE systems had been delivered to the inventory last year and that this year’s figure would exceed 100.
ASELSAN systems for TF-2000
Akyol said construction had begun on the TF-2000 air defense destroyer and that ASELSAN was working on a digital AESA radar, as well as SİPER, HİSAR, GÖKSUR, a laser weapon, GÖKDENİZ, a multistatic sonar and long-range submarine detection systems as part of the project.
Akyol said ASELSAN had developed a domestic periscope following problems caused by foreign dependence in the maintenance and supply of submarine periscopes. He said the use of foreign products on ships had been significantly reduced and that a substantial portion of the components used in submarines had also been localized.
Oğulbey investment exceeds $2.5 billion
Akyol announced that ASELSAN’s investments in Oğulbey had exceeded $2.5 billion. He said the project, which spans more than 800 hectares, was Türkiye’s largest single-investment project in the defense industry and noted that the first section of Oğulbey had become operational, with production of some air defense systems beginning there.
Akyol said ASELSAN had subsidiaries in Konya, Sivas, Gaziantep, Ankara and Istanbul that provided production and design support. He said more than 3,000 companies in 46 provinces supplied ASELSAN and that the company had placed $4 billion worth of orders with small and medium-sized enterprises during the current period.
Production and design activities in 25 countries
Akyol announced that ASELSAN had a physical presence in 25 countries. He said some of these centers operated to provide logistical support, some for production and others for design, adding that they aimed to expand joint design and production efforts with friendly and brotherly countries.
Akyol said the company aimed to reduce procurement times to less than two years for projects it carried out in Türkiye and around the world. He noted that the expanding ecosystem enabled more cost-effective solutions to be delivered in a shorter time.
