While the Turkish defense industry's external dependency has fallen to 40 percent from 80 percent over the past 16 years, the government's initiative to support local and national products in this area is bearing fruit.
Among them, Özdisan Elektronik is looking to end external dependency on Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) in the defense industry with a $25-million investment in a facility in Istanbul in cooperation with Italian firms.
Mustafa Yurttaş, the founding partner and general manager of Özdisan, which sells products it buys from abroad to companies operating in the defense industry as well as providing them with technical consultancy, said PCBs are produced with low technology in Turkey.
Yurttaş explained that almost all of the high-tech PCBs that the defense industry needs are imported and they are working to change this.
"These parts are badly needed, particularly in the military electronics industry. This technology is used in missiles or rockets. With this investment, we will be protected from possible embargoes in the future," he said. Indicating that the investment will be actualized in Dudullu, Yurttaş stated that there is no price of producing something strategic. "If you are able to produce such a product, you do not confine it to Turkey, but market it abroad," he said.
Yurttaş emphasized that they are also about to sign an agreement with a U.S. company for the production of medium and low-tech parts.
