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The Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) has held the second edition of a sector meeting bringing together prime contractors, subcontractors and small and medium-sized enterprises in Turkey's defense industry ecosystem.

The three-day program is set to revisit action items from the earlier gathering along with supply chain resilience, agile production, sustainability and the sharing of financing burdens, with about 1,000 business-to-business meetings planned.

Three-day program brings 209 firms together

The event runs for three days and covers the topics carried over from the first meeting and turned into action, as well as shifting technologies, fast and agile production approaches worldwide, strengthening supply chains, ensuring sustainability and sharing the financing burden.

Some 209 companies are taking part, and the roughly 1,000 B2B meetings planned include chief executives of prime contractors, deputy general managers responsible for procurement and small and medium-sized enterprises that serve as first-tier subcontractors to the primes.

Agenda covers supply chains, exports and workforce

According to a statement from the presidency, the gathering addresses strengthening the defense industry supply chain, developing agile production capabilities, building a sustainable and resilient production structure, managing financing burdens, raising the quality of the workforce, and improving export and contracting processes.

Head of the Presidency of Defense Industries Haluk Görgün said the event was first held two years ago in the same period to strengthen collective thinking in a defense industry ecosystem that is growing and gaining technological depth.

First meeting's proposals became a roadmap

Görgün stressed the importance of including small and medium-sized enterprises and subcontractors taking on new responsibilities in the shaping of industrial policies alongside prime contractors, and said the proposals from the first event were converted into a roadmap under SSB coordination.

Work carried out under that roadmap has focused on developing the workforce, turning qualified talent into competence, managing financing burdens, improving export and contracting processes, and digitalizing and speeding up payment procedures, Görgün said. Relevant vice presidencies and department heads within SSB developed quick solutions on these topics, and the practices have been refined over time to meet sector needs.

Görgün said the second event has grown into a wider platform after the synergy and emphasis on collective thinking at the first meeting found a strong response across the sector. A closing declaration from the meetings will be turned into a strategic roadmap and implemented, and Görgün said the results would benefit defense industry companies. "In the earlier process, the outputs of the meeting two years ago had a very positive impact. The outputs of this meeting will again be reflected very positively in our sector and in the companies operating in it," Görgün said.

Sector firms valued for design and production effort

Görgün said defense industry companies carry great importance for Turkey and that the sector works with young, dynamic and interactive teams, noting the intensive effort firms put into design, prototype, testing and mass production. "The companies operating in our sector are very valuable. They put in their sweat, their intellectual labor, their efforts day and night. They do qualified production and designs," Görgün said.

Görgün said these companies channel the intellectual and financial accumulation they achieve back into production, investment and technology development, and that building products able to operate in different climatic and environmental conditions is one of the sector's most important capabilities. The resulting products are used with confidence by the security forces, have high export potential and are preferred by friendly and allied countries, Görgün said.

Görgün said the event was organized to meet end-user expectations faster, in a more agile and cost-effective way under changing field conditions. "I hope the event we have organized in order to meet the end user's expectations faster and more cost-effectively under changing field conditions will be beneficial for our country," Görgün said.

Key takeaways

• The SSB organized the second edition of its defense industry sector meeting, two years after the first.
• A total of 209 companies are participating, with about 1,000 B2B meetings planned over three days.
• Proposals from the first meeting were turned into an SSB-coordinated roadmap covering workforce, financing, exports and payments.
• A closing declaration from this meeting is to become a strategic roadmap for implementation.