Turkey's air defense and software company HAVELSAN will open its first Middle East office in Qatar, one of its strategic partners, HAVELSAN Executive Vice President Lütfü Özçakır has confirmed. "We will conduct business development and project management services in the Middle Eastern countries, especially in Qatar through our office, where 15 to 20 engineers and technicians will work." Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) at the Expo Turkey in the Qatari capital of Doha, Özçakır said their Helicopter Flight Training Center for Agusta Westland (AW139), which will offer simulated pilot training, was delivered to the Qatari Air Forces Command last week, in line with the agreement signed between Qatar and HAVELSAN in 2012. He said at least a thousand pilots will be trained at the training center annually.

The facility includes a tactical control center with flights, door-mounted machine guns and partial flight training simulators and costs about $40 million.Özçakır added that all the maintenance and operation services of the center, 70 percent of which has been built using Turkish products, will be carried out by Turkish technicians in Doha for three years. He confirmed that the center has been given the highest-level (Level D) certification by both the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).The HAVELSAN executive underlined that the training, to be given through the simulators, some software of which was built by HAVELSAN's Turkish business partners in the last three years, is considered to be equivalent of real helicopter training.Qatar office to be first in the Middle East to be openedStressing that Qatar is one of HAVELSAN's strategic partners, Özçakır said they are planning to open an office in the country soon and 15 to 20 engineers and technicians will be stationed there.He emphasized that they will offer business development and project management services to Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan and United Arab Emirates via the office in Qatar, which will be HAVELSAN's first in the region.Noting that they would like to represent the good relations between Turkey and Qatar on the technology front, Özçakır said they were continuing to offer command control, training and simulation, management and information system projects to the Qatari Air and Naval Forces commands.HAVELSAN to open cyber security training center in Qatar

HAVELSAN's vice president said they are ready to meet Qatar's need for cyber security in military terms, stressing that they were working to establish a center in the country similar to the HAVELSAN Cyber Safety Training Center in Ankara.Stating that the Undersecretariat of the Defense Ministry has provided great support to their endeavors in Qatar, Özçakır underlined that they had an advantage over their competitors thanks to the state's support.He further noted that they were exploring investment opportunities with Qatari businessmen, expressing that they would also like to produce simulators and inflight entertainment systems for Qatar Airways in the civil aviation sector.Previously, HAVELSAN produced a helicopter simulator for the Qatari Air Forces to offer training that is equivalent to a real life flight experience under all weather conditions. The simulator enables pilots to test all kinds of operations and situations encountered in the air. It can also test the abilities of pilots by recreating all kinds of weather conditions.HAVELSAN produces turnkey academic concepts to satisfy the training requirements of pilots and technical flight staff in the military aviation sector.HAVELSAN General Manager Ahmet Hamdi Atalay previously said the company has the largest simulator production center in Europe and produces simulators for air, ground and sea training activities. He said that pilots were subjected to a raft of training exercises on the ground before receiving training in the air, as air training is both expensive and risky.Established in 1982 as a Turkish-U.S. Company, under the name of HAVELSAN-AYDIN, HAVELSAN began its operations in 1985 with 98 percent of its capital owned by the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation.HAVELSAN is active in the areas of software intensive systems, and has focused on Air Defense, Naval Combat, Simulation and Training and Management Information Systems, Energy Management Systems and Homeland Security within the context of Command and Control Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Systems (C4ISR).In addition to military systems, HAVELSAN signed off on its first civilian projects in 2001 with the National Judicial Network (UYAP) and Cadastral Information System (TAKBIS) projects.The company previously had cooperation deals with companies based in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Brunei, Iraq, Malaysia and a long-time partnership with U.S.-based aviation companies Lockheed Martin and Boeing.