ASELSAN CEO Ahmet Akyol stated that they will be providing more Steel Dome components to inventory by 2025, ensuring that the products nationalized last year have kept the foreign exchange of 1 billion dollars within Turkey for the first time. Akyol mentioned, “This granted ASELSAN a 22% cost advantage on average.” The “International Economy Summit” held in Sapanca featured a panel titled “The Future of Defense Technologies in Light of Changing Concepts.” In this panel, ASELSAN CEO Ahmet Akyol, Altınay Defense Technologies Inc. General Manager Burak Mercan, Defense and Aerospace Manufacturers Association (SASAD) President and Deputy Chairman of Kale Group Osman Okyay, and Pacific Technology Board Member Muhammed Selman Dönmez delivered speeches. Akyol highlighted that by the end of last year, a total of 25 trillion dollars of goods were traded globally. He emphasized the importance of defense industry due to the struggle for a share in trade on one side and the awareness of ‘We must gain the competency to defend ourselves’ on the other. Akyol stated, “Recent investments and resources allocated have the potential to establish a powerful army, a robust economy, and a strong defense industry within this new atmosphere.” Highlighting that ASELSAN is one of the leading companies in this system, Akyol expressed that they are enhancing their capacities within this framework. He noted, “We are currently developing a system that can make decisions based on artificial intelligence, rapidly communicate them as ‘Military 5G’ without delay, analyze each threat set, and respond to it with the right engagement and proper weaponry, layered with different sensors and various weapon systems to ensure our country’s continuity in the new setting, in the new world, shaping geography.” Akyol added, “This year, we will introduce a greater number of sub-components and systems, including Steel Dome components, to inventory. Our project continues successfully.” Highlighting the signing of 6.5 billion dollars worth of new contracts last year, reaching an approximate backlog revenue of 14 billion dollars, Akyol mentioned that they achieved being the 10th fastest-growing defense company globally with an 18% growth rate in dollars. Akyol shared that roughly 250 million dollars of investments are made annually, nearly a thousand additional qualified employments are created, and 7% of revenues are committed to indigenous R&D, to maintain sustainable growth through productivity increases, nationalization, focusing on value-added products, and substantial investments. Akyol expressed, “Last year, the forex generated by the nationalized products stood at 1 billion dollars within Turkey for the first time, granting ASELSAN a 22% cost advantage on average.” Akyol stated that they aim to complement growth and development with European-oriented partnerships. Towards the end of the first quarter of this year, they have begun to see initial results. Emphasizing that the growth experienced in the previous year was export-oriented and will continue to be so, Akyol expressed their desire to strengthen it with Europe. He added, “We are slowly starting to see results in the first quarter of this year. The high-volume, sustainable growth we captured last year continues in the first quarter.” Burak Mercan, the General Manager of Altınay Defense Technologies Inc., expressed that emerging technologies, independent, self-sufficient, and sustainable defense industry infrastructure created in Turkey in the past 20 years, along with products developed as part of the strategy, have generated appreciation and demand globally. He stated that due to aligning Turkey’s development process with security concerns, Turkey’s strategy created an internal demand movement alongside the substantial external demand for Turkish defense products, technologies, and engineers. Mercan also highlighted that the security spending in the Middle East, North Africa, Southeast Asia, and recently in Europe, driven by security concerns, represents a significant potential for Turkey and the companies operating there. He expressed, “Though Europe has better technological depth than us, in industrial capacity, they are not on par with us at the moment. Therefore, we have good potential compared to them. We consider Turkey and companies in Turkey to have significant opportunities in the future from the European perspective.” Muhammad Selman Dönmez, a Board Member of Pacific Technology, acknowledged that Turkey has made visionary investments in defense industry and technology over the past 20 years. Dönmez highlighted, “Although the crisis between America and China as of now is primarily an economic crisis, the countries acting as balancing forces in this war will be those who have significantly invested in defense industry and technology, apart from economic strength. Turkey’s crucial role in this war today is attributed to the visionary investments made in the defense and technology sectors over the past 20 years.” Osman Okyay, the President of SASAD and Deputy Chairman of Kale Group, emphasized that the main reason behind countries’ investments in defense industries is “deterrence” and noted that while the definition of deterrence has changed recently, it has shifted to more abstract realms.