ANKARA, Turkey — Military electronics specialist Aselsan saw a 42% rise in net profit during the first half of the year, according to financial figures published Aug. 15.
The state-controlled Turkish company said in a news release that the net profit during that time period rose to 5.4 billion liras (U.S. $199.1 million).
Aselsan said its orders, as of the end of June 2023, reached $8.4 billion. Total sales in the first half of the year came in at 18.1 billion liras, up 67% from the same period last year.
The company said its engineers managed to “nationalize” — or replace imported equipment with homemade versions — 68 systems. In the past five years, Aselsan said, it did the same for 738 systems, and that its effort led to savings worth $900 million for the national economy.
Ahmet Akyol, the recently appointed CEO of Aselsan, attributed the growth to the company’s “increasing competitiveness in local and foreign markets and its posture as a reliable technology company.”
Akyol said the firm now aims to boost its exports by focusing on high-tech systems while developing more indigenous equipment.
Aselsan is the 47th largest defense company in the world, according to Defense News’ Top 100 list, which ranks firms by their defense revenue. That’s up two spots from last year, despite an 11% drop in defense revenue from fiscal 2021 to fiscal 2022.
Burak Ege Bekdil was the Turkey correspondent for Defense News.
