Armed forces of the Republic of Turkey
Part I.
The armed forces of the Republic of Turkey, founded on May 3, 1920, are today one of the most advanced forces in Europe in terms of quantity and quality. Before joining NATO in 1952, the armed forces of Kemalist Turkey were technically backward. During the Cold War, Turkey's strategic location and large human resources made it NATO's main bridgehead in the Middle East. For this reason, the United States began to supply Turkey with the latest Western weapons. But in 1974, due to Turkey's intervention against the authorities of Greece and Cyprus, relations with Western countries became colder. In general, since the 80s, Turkey has started to modernize its defense industry without relying on allies alone. The policy of arms import has changed, and the Turkish authorities have begun to strictly demand that the arms seller manufacture the product under license in Turkey and transfer technology. Thanks to this initiative, license production of American F-16 fighters was started. Since 1988, more than 150 F-16 aircraft have been produced in Turkey. In addition, the production of Western multi-purpose helicopters has been started, and the Republic of Turkey has a large-scale aviation production cluster in Europe.
However, Western companies were not satisfied with this requirement in most cases. That is why Turkey turned to third-party countries and began to independently develop a number of defense production lines. For example, since the United States embargoed M270 MLRS systems in the 1990s, the Turkish authorities in partnership with China opened the license production of WS-1B artillery systems in Turkey. Today, TRG-300 is produced under the name Kasirga and exported to countries such as Azerbaijan and Bangladesh. In addition, due to the ban on the sale of PZH2000 self-propelled artillery units to Turkey by the German authorities, Turkey agreed to manufacture South Korean K9 artillery units under the name T-155 Firtina and produced 280 units until 2011. The next part describes the development of the Turkish armed forces and defense industry in 2000-2010. @AQSNQ
Part I.
The armed forces of the Republic of Turkey, founded on May 3, 1920, are today one of the most advanced forces in Europe in terms of quantity and quality. Before joining NATO in 1952, the armed forces of Kemalist Turkey were technically backward. During the Cold War, Turkey's strategic location and large human resources made it NATO's main bridgehead in the Middle East. For this reason, the United States began to supply Turkey with the latest Western weapons. But in 1974, due to Turkey's intervention against the authorities of Greece and Cyprus, relations with Western countries became colder. In general, since the 80s, Turkey has started to modernize its defense industry without relying on allies alone. The policy of arms import has changed, and the Turkish authorities have begun to strictly demand that the arms seller manufacture the product under license in Turkey and transfer technology. Thanks to this initiative, license production of American F-16 fighters was started. Since 1988, more than 150 F-16 aircraft have been produced in Turkey. In addition, the production of Western multi-purpose helicopters has been started, and the Republic of Turkey has a large-scale aviation production cluster in Europe.
However, Western companies were not satisfied with this requirement in most cases. That is why Turkey turned to third-party countries and began to independently develop a number of defense production lines. For example, since the United States embargoed M270 MLRS systems in the 1990s, the Turkish authorities in partnership with China opened the license production of WS-1B artillery systems in Turkey. Today, TRG-300 is produced under the name Kasirga and exported to countries such as Azerbaijan and Bangladesh. In addition, due to the ban on the sale of PZH2000 self-propelled artillery units to Turkey by the German authorities, Turkey agreed to manufacture South Korean K9 artillery units under the name T-155 Firtina and produced 280 units until 2011. The next part describes the development of the Turkish armed forces and defense industry in 2000-2010. @AQSNQ