ANKARA, Turkey — Aselsan, Turkey’s largest defense company, and Saudi Arabia’s Taqnia announced Tuesday the establishment of a joint venture.
In a letter to Istanbul’s stock exchange, Aselsan said registration of the joint defense company SADEC had been completed. SADEC has $6 million in capital.
On Nov. 23, the two companies had signed a preliminary agreement for the joint venture.
State-controlled Aselsan, a military electronics specialist, ranks 58th on Defense News’ Top 100 list of defense companies for 2016.
"One primary target of cooperation, inevitably, will be military electronics," an Aselsan official said.
As part of the deal, Aselsan and Taqnia will build a factory in Saudi Arabia on the idea of "creating the most advanced available technology."
Officials said the main areas of technological cooperation will focus on radars, electronic warfare suites and electro-optical technology.
Business will focus on design, development and manufacturing of hardware and software with a view to selling them to the Saudi and Gulf markets, according to another Aselsan official.
Aselsan and Taqnia each will hold a 50 percent stake in the joint venture.
In September 2013, Turkey and Saudi Arabia ratified an agreement to improve defense industry cooperation by improving industry capabilities for both countries through more effective collaboration on the development, production and procurement of goods and services in the defense industry and related technical and logistical support fields.
The agreement is for five years and can be extended automatically for successive one-year periods.
In 2012, the Turkish parliament also approved a deal with Saudi Arabia regarding cooperation in training military personnel.
Industry experts in Ankara said defense industry deals between Turkey and Saudi Arabia could facilitate Turkey’s future exports of naval vessels, assault boats, armored vehicles and UAVs to Saudi Arabia. The Arab kingdom also has shown an interest in the Altay, Turkey’s first indigenous, new-generation battle tank now in the prototype production and testing stage.
Burak Ege Bekdil was the Turkey correspondent for Defense News.
