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Canada plans to use Turkey's Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB) as a model for localizing its own defence sector, according to defence industry sources briefed on talks held during Prime Minister Mark Carney's visit to Ankara.

Carney's government aims to lift cooperation with Turkish companies in production, innovation and technology transfer to a strategic level, part of a broader effort to reduce Canada's security and procurement dependence on Washington.

Carney points to Turkey's 80% local production rate

Discussions between Turkish and Canadian officials during Carney's Ankara visit focused on how Canada could adapt the SSB framework to strengthen its domestic defence industry. Sources in the defence sector said Canadian officials told their SSB counterparts that they want to move quickly to put the model into practice at home.

Carney cited Turkey's defence industry performance directly. "Turkey produces about 80 percent of its own defence needs locally. That is not the case in Canada. We have a lot to learn," he said during the visit. He also said Canada "needs more of Turkey's defence industry expertise to protect Canadians," and described reaching a localization rate above 80 percent as a desired policy goal for his government.

Carney drew particular attention to Turkey's record of innovation in space and aviation, and said strategic cooperation in those fields was seen as important for raising Canada's own defence capabilities to a sufficient level.

How the SSB model works

The SSB organizes nearly the whole span of Turkey's defence industry, covering localization, production, innovation, procurement, regulation, public-private cooperation and institutional financing. By centralizing coordination between the Turkish armed forces and public and private companies, the body manages fast decision-making and requirement fulfillment, which the source material describes as a structure without a close equivalent elsewhere in the world.

The agency delivers projects for the needs of procuring authorities while placing national design and local production at the center. It also implements measures to raise export revenues for industry firms and aims to gradually remove external dependence in critical systems. The ecosystem it has built, covering more than 4,500 companies, is directed toward specific fields and supported by technology acquisition obligations and capability-building policies.

Poland's Deputy Prime Minister and National Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz has previously described the SSB as a multifaceted structure with no parallel in the world, calling it the strategic brain and center of Turkey's defence and aerospace ecosystem. "The SSB does not only produce and procure for its own needs, it also exports and promotes exports. This is a model we want to implement in Poland," Kosiniak-Kamysz said.

Part of a plan to lean less on Washington

The move fits with Carney's strategy of reducing Canada's security and procurement dependence on Washington. Last year, the Canadian government set up the Defence Investment Agency to cut through bureaucratic bottlenecks in defence procurement and announced a target of raising the domestic industry's share of defence spending to 70 percent over the next 10 years. The Ankara visit is being assessed as a critical threshold for turning that target into concrete steps.

In an interview, Carney said Canada intends both to run joint defence industry projects with Turkey and to procure products from it, pointing to Turkey's high level of innovation and technology积累 in unmanned systems.

Memorandum signed, then talks with ASELSAN and Baykar

A Memorandum of Understanding on Defence Sector Partnerships was signed between the two countries on 22 October. SSB President Haluk Görgün said the memorandum reflects a commitment to widen cooperation between the two NATO allies, and that the Turkish defence industry's global role continues to grow.

The day after the signing, Carney held a series of contacts led by the SSB. He met senior representatives of ASELSAN, known for its electro-optical, radar and avionics systems, and of Baykar, known for its work in unmanned aerial systems and autonomous software technologies.

Key takeaways

• Canada plans to model its defence industry localization drive on Turkey's Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB), sources said after Prime Minister Mark Carney's Ankara visit.
• Carney cited Turkey's roughly 80 percent domestic production rate for its own defence needs as a policy target Canada should pursue.
• Canada aims to raise the domestic industry's share of defence spending to 70 percent over the next 10 years as it seeks to reduce dependence on Washington.
• A defence sector partnership memorandum was signed on 22 October, followed by Carney's meetings with ASELSAN and Baykar.