ANKARA, Turkey — Tusas Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) is planning a large investment to renew and modernize its plant near Ankara in efforts to catch up with its growth plans for the next decade, company sources said.
They sources said that the company would make a fixed investment of 384 million Turkish liras (approximately $130 million). In addition, it will buy $82 million worth of machinery and equipment from foreign suppliers.
TAI hopes its business will grow 10-fold to $6 billion annually in the next 10 years when the company will be employing and plans to employ a workforce of 10,000 people. By 2040, it hopes to reach an annual business worth $10 billion with 12,500 employees.
TAI presently employs 4,500 personnel. Of that number, 1,800 are engineers. In 2005, its turnover was a mere $90 million.
TAI earns approximately 60 percent of its annual income from aerostructures.
TAI is owned 55 percent by t The Turkish Armed Forces Foundation owns 55 percent of TAI, while and 45 percent by Turkey’s defense procurement agency, the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM) owns the remaining 45 percent.
Last year, TAI invested $50 million in a production unit where it manufactures the center fuselage for the F-35 under the multinational Jjoint Sstrike Ffighter (JSF) program.
In another program, TAI also produces body parts for the Airbus family of civilian aircraft — it is the sole-source barrel producer of Airbus’ A320 and A321 aircraft and a design partners and sole-source aileron producer for Airbus’ most advanced aircraft, the A350.
It also produces body parts for Boeing's 737, 747, 767 and 777 series, including parts for the elevator, cargo barrier and body seal for the B787 (a total of 400,000 sub-assembly parts every year go to Boeing); the center fuselage for the Italian British AgustaWestland's AW139 helicopters; and parts for the Bombardier C series aircraft. TAI is 5.56 percent partner in the multinational A400M program and produces parts for the future large transport aircraft.
Company sources said the new investment plan is expected to bolster the company's mostly indigenous programs, including drones, a basic trainer, a future fighter jet, a regional jet with a dual civilian-military mission and attack, utility and light helicopters.
Burak Ege Bekdil was the Turkey correspondent for Defense News.
