Teknofest, one of the world's largest aviation festivals, was held in Adana this year. Organized for the first time in 2018, Teknofest is an important arena for the Turkish defense and aerospace industry.
It is noteworthy that more and more Turkish-made military aircraft are taking the stage in the air shows organized within the scope of Teknofest. In 2018, only domestic aircraft such as the T129 ATAK Attack and Tactical Reconnaissance Helicopter and Bayraktar TB2 UCAV took the stage at Teknofest, but this year, a record was broken.
Turkish-made aircraft such as the AKINCI Attack Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, ANKA-3 Unmanned Combat Aircraft, Bayraktar TB2 UCAV, Bayraktar TB3 UCAV, HÜRJET Jet Trainer Aircraft, HÜRKUŞ Trainer Aircraft, T129 ATAK Attack Helicopter and T-70 Utility Helicopter performed various air shows as part of Teknofest Adana this year.
In fact, we can say that this point is the clearest and most striking indicator of how far the Turkish defense industry has come in a period of about 10 years. This is because none of the aerial vehicles listed above were in use before 2014. Within a period of 10 years, Türkiye has become capable of producing indigenous unmanned combat aircraft, armed unmanned aerial vehicles, turbofan and turboprop-engined training and attack aircraft and indigenous utility and attack helicopters.
Of course, although the output of these projects dates back to 2014, the real history of these projects dates back to 2004. In 2004, at a meeting of the Defense Industry Executive Committee chaired by then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, it was decided to cancel many foreign procurement projects and replace them with domestic projects. Since 2004, there has been a significant increase in the number of products in the Turkish defense industry, first in the number of domestic products and then in the number of products with both national and domestic status. Of course, the joint production projects in the pre-2004 period created serious advantages in this regard.
Today, Baykar, a Turkish company, has exported dozens of unmanned aerial vehicles to 34 countries. Baykar is now recognized as the world's largest UCAV manufacturer. Baykar, which has been ranked first in exports in the defense industry for consecutive years, has also entered the space sector with its FERGANİ initiative. Unmanned aerial platforms produced by Baykar have played an active role in many conflict zones in the last decade.
In the coming period, TAI's KAAN and HÜRJET platforms and Baykar's Bayraktar KIZILELMA platforms will form the future of Turkish military aviation and the Turkish defense industry. HÜRJET and KAAN are planned to enter service in 2026 and 2028, respectively. Selçuk Bayraktar, chairperson of the board of directors of Baykar, announced that we will see mass production of KIZILELMA as of 2025.
Türkiye's simultaneous projects in the fields of the 5th Generation fighter jet and unmanned fighter aircraft enable it to play an active role in the 6th Generation air combat concept. Perhaps for the first time, Türkiye, whose aviation adventure is full of failed examples, will play a concept-setter role in this field, becoming a leader rather than a follower.
