Türkiye reinforces defence industry consolidation with regional diplomacy

Three of the Royal Army of Oman's PARS III 8×8 infantry fighting vehicles, built by Turkish defence contractor FNSS, take part in an Omani exercise on 4 July 2024. (Oman MoD)

Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan discussed further defence co-operation with Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq on 8 December.

Türkiye's defence connections with Oman have increased in recent years. In July Turkish defence contractor FNSS' Pars III 8×8 armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs), in service with the Royal Army of Oman, were part of military exercises conducted by the Omani Armed Forces.

In July 2022 FNSS announced it would build a depot-level maintenance and repair facility for Oman's fleet of Pars III armoured vehicles, including infrastructure that will enable the facility to be expanded and help Omani companies produce spares.

The contract helped fulfil industry participation and offset obligations for a large vehicle contract, which saw the delivery of 172 Pars III vehicles (145 8×8s and 27 6×6s) in 13 variants to Oman from 2017 to 2020.

Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE are also significant clients for Turkish defence equipment.

FNSS changes

Turkish industrial conglomerate Nurol Holding secured full ownership of Turkish defence contractor FNSS Savunma Sistemleri A.Ş. in October after reaching an agreement to acquire the remaining 49% stake it did not already own from BAE Systems.

FNSS Savunma Sistemleri was established as a joint venture (JV) between Nurol Holding and US company FMC Corporation in 1985. The first contract FNSS won was for the construction of 1,698 armoured personnel carriers for the Turkish Land Forces Command.

This acquisition concludes Nurol's more than three-decade-long JV with BAE Systems.