Aselsan

ASELSAN

ASELSAN is a global defense and advanced electronics company, that designs, develops, manufactures state-of-the-art products, systems and services for military, governmental and commercial customers. Headquartered in Ankara, Turkey, ASELSAN is composed of five Business Sectors:

1. Communication and Information Technologies
2. Microelectronics, Guidance and Electro-Optics
3. Radar and Electronic Warfare Systems
4. Defense Systems Technologies
5. Transportation, Security, Energy and Automation Systems

ASELSAN’s expertise cover a wide range of applications, including communications systems, radar systems, electronic warfare systems, electro-optics, navigation & avionics, C4ISR, naval systems, weapon systems, air defense systems, homeland security and traffic & toll collection systems. These activities are performed in four facilities all located in Ankara, Turkey with a workforce exceeding 6600 employees, over half of which are engineers. Dedicating utmost importance to R&D activities by allocating 7% of its annual revenue and through its technological know-how, ASELSAN has achieved the capability to undertake large-scale system integration projects and develop advanced products.

Today, Turkey is globally recognized as a major player in the global defense industry - largely self reliant in the domestic market and increasingly effective in the international market. The size of Turkish defense and aerospace market has exceeded the 5 billion USD benchmark, with total exports approaching 1,8 billion USD and R&D expenditures on the order of 1 billion USD.

ASELSAN has historically been the locomotive of the Turkish defense industry, accounting for the largest shares in annual turnover, employee count, R&D expenditure and product diversity. Since its establishment in 1975, ASELSAN has grown steadily to become one of the largest defense companies in the region. Aside from that ASELSAN has proved its competitiveness also in the international arena, with its export to 63 countries and through active participation in NATO joint research/development and production programs.

ASELSAN has also claimed a sustainable position among the top 100 defense companies worldwide, as listed by the prestigious Defense News, and was most recently ranked at number 55 with respect to 2017 data thanks to its sales figure of 1,430 Million USD, 20% of which are exports.

Turkish Armed Forces Foundation –an independent legal entity operating under the laws of the Republic of Turkey– is ASELSAN’s major shareholder. The Foundation has historically facilitated close dialogue between ASELSAN and the Turkish Armed Forces–ASELSAN’s major customer. ASELSAN has also enjoyed the support of SSM (Undersecretariat for Defense Industries), since its establishment in 1985 to function as the rudder of the Turkish defense industry, throughout the course of many national development programs.

Upon becoming a major defense industries actor at the international scale and steering the Turkish defense industry in evolving into a largely self-reliant power; ASELSAN has also sought the support of governments in its global operations over the course of the past decade. In the establishment of ASELSAN’s joint ventures in Kazakhstan, Jordan, UAE and Saudi Arabia, Qatar as well as the incorporation of ASELSAN’s branches in the Republic of South Africa and Azerbaijan, ASELSAN has benefited from the involvement of governmental entities – both of the Turkish state and of the local states.