SAHA EXPO, which is the biggest meeting in the industry and creates an effective platform for important collaborations, brought together 250 foreign and 750 domestic companies from 57 countries.
SAHA Expo’s Secretary General İlhami Keleş stated in his statement that the fair is an international arena for technologies that are game changers, and innovative and where Türkiye’s brand value comes to the fore.
Noting that 57 countries participated in the fair, Keleş said that among the foreign participants, there was a prime minister, 11 ministers, chiefs of general staff, force commanders, deputy ministers, and officials with the status of undersecretary.
Keleş said that a significant part of foreign participants entered the fair and that there was a great interest in the fair. Keleş stated that domestic and foreign products will be promoted at the fair and emphasized that the fair is not a fair for foreigners who come to sell products, but a market concept with international interaction.
Roketsan’s General Manager Murat İkinci said that the fair is important for all the companies that make up the Turkish defense industry and the entire ecosystem to showcase their capabilities here.
İkinci stating that Roketsan will introduce a new special product for the fair said: “As Roketsan and STM, we will have a surprise for you. We will bring you a new product for the first time at SAHA Expo. I consider that SAHA Expo will be a very successful organization, especially since it creates an opportunity for defense and aerospace-related companies from various parts of the world to improve their relations with Türkiye and appeals to a very wide ecosystem. I wish all participants and all visitors a good fair.”
Emphasizing that Roketsan is among the largest defense companies in the world from 86th place this year, İkinci said: “Roketsan has a huge growth potential. We are targeting a turnover of around 750-800 million dollars this year. Nearly 300 million dollars of this is the income from exports.”
“We aim to reach a turnover of over one billion dollars very quickly in the next 2-3 years. Here, Roketsan’s main goal is to be among the 50 largest defense companies in the world and to maintain its current success consistently. Our main goal at Roketsan is to grow with the export pillar. In this regard, the interest in missile technologies that we have made for the Turkish defense industry, especially the smart ammunition used by unmanned aerial vehicles, shows that we will reach these targets very quickly in the coming period. We hope to make a very serious contribution to the export of our country by reaching these targets.”
STM’s General Manager Özgür Güleryüz stated that they are working hard to find new subcontractors and to develop cooperation with them, and said: “The fair is very active. The number of incoming delegations is quite large. We will have nice surprises within the scope of the fair. We have two launches tomorrow. There are countries, institutions, and companies that we meet in the field of military maritime. We will hold meetings with the participating countries within the scope of the fair.”
Expressing that SAHA İstanbul is an important opportunity for new business potentials, Güleryüz made the following assessments:
“I think that we have created a good environment for all companies in the ecosystem that can serve the defense and aerospace field in Türkiye, both to work with us and to evaluate their overseas business potential with them. At the moment, we are trying to bring the manned submarine to the fore which we call STM 500. Because the use of unmanned submarines is still limited. The biggest problem under the sea is communication. Unless you can solve the communication problem, the unmanned submarine has to be wired, or she has to come out on the water at certain intervals and communicate with a satellite or UAV.”
The fair, which can be visited by international and Turkish professionals on 25-26-27 October, will be open to the public only on 28 October. SAHA EXPO Defense, Aerospace and Space Industry Fair targets 30 thousand professional visitors physically at İstanbul Expo Center.