ISTANBUL: Turkish Aerospace Industries is showing off Turkiye's burgeoning potential as a "super" provider of military products and services at the country's largest defence fair.
The state-owned company showcases, among others, the Anka drone, Hurjet advanced training jet and KAAN, which is Turkiye's fifth generation combat aircraft, at this year's International Defence Fair (IDEF 2023) here.
For the first time, Turkish Aerospace has showcased the T-925 general purpose helicopter at this 16th edition of IDEF.
Turkish Aerospace chief executive officer Temel Kotil said the T-925 is the big sister of its Gokbey helicopter, which can carry 12 people.
Kotil reportedly said during IDEF 2023: "It completes our range. This (T-925) is the final piece of the puzzle. It is the big sister of Gökbey. It can carry 20 people and has a weight capacity of 10 tonnes. It has a ramp at the back and can accommodate a Jeep inside."
The T-925 helicopter will make its first flight in a year and will be in the inventory in 2026, he added.
Turkish Aerospace also used IDEF 2023 to seal a slew of agreements with foreign parties that will boost its target to become one of the world's top 10 defence companies.
The agreements include with Malaysia's G7 Aerospace Sdn Bhd over the logistics of three Anka drones by the Malaysian government in May this year, and Azerbaijan's Ministry of Defence Industry for cooperation in the KAAN project.
The latter's agreement relates to the training of engineers within the framework of the production of jet fighters of Azerbaijan and Turkiye.
Turkish Aerospace is based in the capital city of Ankara, with facilities spanning a total area of four million square metres, including 710,000 square metres of closed space.
It employs over 14,500 employees including 6,153 engineers, and provides services in the design, development, modernisation, production, integration and lifecycle support of integrated aviation space industry systems.
This includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and space systems.
IDEF, a biennial event that began in 1993, is hosted by Turkiye's Ministry of National Defence and is being held at the Tuyap Fair and Congress Centre.
It is the largest gathering of the defence industry in Turkiye and the fourth largest in the world, according to the fair's website.