Turkish defence manufacturer, Aselsan which is taking part in the ongoing show, grew in record terms in 2022 with a 77 percent increase as compared to 2021. Aselsan’ s net profit increased by 67% compared to the same period of the previous year and reached TL 11.9 billion. The company has made strong inroads into global export markets with its wide product portfolio, many of which are on display here at Langkawi. This has resulted in an export order backlog of USD1 billion. Exports remain a key driver at Aselsan, which added three new export customers in 2022. In the last four years alone, the Turkish defence firm has exported its products to 81 countries, out of which 18 were first time customers. Aselsan has also introduced 50 different products, which received export contracts in the last four years.
The company also continues to increase the amount of Turkish content on its products, which allows it greater freedom in global defence exports. In 2022 alone, Aselsan successfully completed the nationalization process of 160 different products. Over the last three years, 670 of the company’s products have been engineered with greater indigenous content, generating savings of USD500 million. In the ensuing decades since its inception, Aselsan has grown to nearly ten thousand employees and one hundred strategic partners.
Recent Developments
In the maritime domain, Aselsan continues to develop and manufacture the world’s most advanced Unmanned Marine Vehicles technologies. Blue Vatan’s technological protectors, especially the MARLIN IDA and Albatros-S IDA Herd Projects developed by ASELSAN, will continue to evolve. The company is also continuing to evolve its family of proven unmanned aerial vehicles. The company recently successfully completed the Aselsan LGK shooting test conducted by Bayraktar Akinci UAV with the Aselsan CATS camera system. Previously, the target was successfully destroyed with Aselsan’ s TOLUN (Guided Miniature Bomb), which was again released from an Akinci UAV. Aselsan and Roketsan are continuing with development of the SIPER Long-Range Region Air and Missile Defense System. The SIPER air defence system will form a major component of Turkey’s future layered air defence requirements. Aselsan recently also realized the first mass production delivery of modernised armoured vehicles for the Turkish armed forces.
Gozde Guidance Ready for Mass Production
Aselsan recently announced that its Gozde guidance kit is ready for mass production. Series production of the new guided munition is now underway. Aselsan has developed the Gozde guidance kit in partnership with TUBITAK SAGE. The 500Ib class guided ammunition is essentially a MK-82 general purpose bomb converted with INS/GPS and Laser Seeker Head (LAB).
Aselsan Chairman of the Board and General Manager Prof. Dr. Haluk Görgün stated that the flight tests of the GÖZDE ammunition were carried out successfully and said, “In the first firing tests, the GÖZDE-ANS guided-kit bomb, which was thrown at a speed of 0.9 Mach from a height of 28,500 feet, hit the target at a range of 13 km, which was marked with a laser by the follower aircraft. Another Gozde -ANS guided-kit bomb, which was thrown at a speed of 0.9 Mach from a height of 40 thousand feet in the ongoing activities within the scope of the F-16 certification tests, hit the target with a laser-marked 21 km range, which was marked with a laser by the follower aircraft. Gozde -ANS; MK-82 (500 lb) is a kit that makes general purpose bombs ANS/Laser guided, and it has the ability to hit targets at a range of 28 km with high precision when dropped from an altitude of 40 thousand feet from F-16 aircraft.
The guidance kit allows the weapon to precisely hit fixed targets and targets moving at high-speed (50-120 km/h). The flight tests of the Gozde ammunition were recently completed and the first firing tests were carried out from the Turkish Air Force F-16 and Akinci unmanned drones. In shooting tests, the target was hit with high precision. Over the course of the certification tests, F-16 aircraft successfully carried out weapons trials at the Konya Karapınar Shooting Range in Turkey. Later the Gozde guidance kit munition was integrated onto an Akinci.
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