Turkey to give credit support for investments in defence sector

Turkey’s Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB) will continue giving credit support for investments in the defence sector this year, according to a statement released by the procurement agency on its website on 10 April.

The size of the credit support that has been given to companies and projects for investments and development activities carried out by the SSB and initiated in 2020 will reach TRY300 million (USD36.8 million).

Loans will be given to support the investment activities of local industrial organisations operating in the fields of defence, homeland security, aviation, and space, as well as the facility construction activities to be carried out in the Ankara Space and Aviation Specialized Organized Industrial Zone (HAB).

İsmali Demir, the head of the SSB, said that at HAB they want to create an area of expertise, especially in advanced manufacturing and material technologies.

“Because it is an area that we especially need to develop. When we say aviation and space, material [and], new and modern manufacturing technologies gain much importance, i.e. precision manufacturing,” Demir said in a separate interview with the state-owned Anatolia news agency (AA) on 10 April.

In addition, systems such as weapon technologies, electronics, informatics, communication, artificial intelligence (AI), and robotics will be located at HAB, and these will have incentives to a significant extent, as much as the SSB can allow, he noted.

According to the SSB statement, three priority areas for credit support were identified for this year. The first is advanced material technologies, robotics, and autonomous systems. The second is electronic warfare, detection technologies, cyber security, AI, electronic, avionics, weapons, ammunition, rocket and missile systems, semiconductor production, composite technologies, and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) defence. The third will be the facility construction at HAB.