BAE Systems has been operating in Turkey for more than 30 years. With a global workforce of 93,100 people in more than 40 countries, BAE Systems prides itself on working closely with local partners to support economic development by transferring knowledge, skills and technology.
This is particularly prevalent in Turkey, where BAE Systems is focused on working with local industry to establish strong partnerships that best serve the Turkish armed forces and its allies. In the run up to the 16th International Defence Industry Fair (IDEF 2023) in Istanbul, we spoke with BAE Systems’ Country Director for Turkey, Banu Dincer, about her time in the role and expectations for the event.
Dincer has been working for BAE Systems in Turkey for more than 20 years and has been involved in a number of projects to modernise and transform Turkey’s defence capabilities. She is responsible for identifying how and where we can best support Turkey in building indigenous capability by utilising the breadth of skills and experience across BAE Systems.
Expressing that it’s a particularly exciting time to be in Turkey Dincer said “We’re seeing some really interesting home-grown innovations and tech emerging across the defence and aerospace industry, and it’s clear that Turkey is on a journey to build a highly capable national defence industrial base. Our job at BAE Systems is to match and support that ambition and, if we can, become a partner of choice for Turkish aerospace development, production, and training.”
Dincer continued by saying: “We have a long and proud heritage in the development, manufacture, upgrade and support of world-leading combat and fast jet trainer aircraft – from Tornado and Hawk through to Typhoon. We’re bringing a broad spectrum of engineering skills, based around the development of the aircraft. We have expertise in airframe structures, avionics integration and electronic systems design, while at the same time we can support project delivery areas and management functions.”
One of the most high profile programmes that BAE Systems is involved in is the Turkish Aerospace’s fifth generation fighter jet programme, KAAN. Since 2017, BAE Systems engineers have supported the development phase of the indigenous fighter jet programme, providing crucial technical and engineering support. Such experience is needed on a project that’s demanding and complex. Banu stated that: “It’s not a case of us focusing on one particular capability area, our partners, Turkish Aerospace in Ankara are drawing on the full depth of our experience. We thrive on collaboration and as we focus on our future, we’re keen to develop further relations with the Turkish industry across the fields that we are well experienced, whether that be C5ISR, cyber or further air requirements.”
When Dincer was asked about what she can expect from IDEF, she responded: “We’ve been proud supporters of IDEF in Turkey for many years and I believe that this year this event will be even bigger and better. This year we’ll be showcasing some of our proven aerospace capabilities, with interactive demos that will highlight the breadth of BAE Systems technology across all domains. Turkey is an important market for BAE Systems and we’re looking forward to reconnect with familiar faces and make new acquaintances.”
Come and visit BAE Systems at stand 112A.