ASELSAN, one of Türkiye’s R&D leaders, broke a historical record in 2023 by spending a total of 19.486 million TRY on R&D and 16.695 million TRY on external R&D. Ahmet Akyol, ASELSAN’s President & CEO, in an exclusive interview with Atul Chandra, Technology Editor at Global Business Press, talks about the R&D ambitions of the fast growing defence firm, which currently has nine R&D centers and over 6,700 employees working at its R&D facilities.

What is the importance given to R&D at ASELSAN and why?

As Türkiye’s leading defence company and a global technology hub, research and development is a top priority for us. We take pride in being one of the leading companies in Türkiye in terms of R&D investment and the number of R&D personnel. This commitment allows us to develop industry-leading and transformative products in their fields. At ASELSAN, aligned with our mission to be among R&D leaders, we adopt innovative management practices that can compete with the world’s best R&D-oriented companies. We believe that R&D and innovation are essential to enhancing ASELSAN’s competitiveness on a global scale.

ASELSAN has introduced an integrated roadmap that outlines our technology and product plans over multiple years, illustrating their interconnections. This roadmap enables us to evaluate how each R&D project aligns with the products we aim to bring to market. Additionally, it includes a timeline for R&D activities and product launches, prioritizing key technologies to streamline the transition from research to final products, ultimately accelerating our go-to-market process.

We also work closely with companies within our ecosystem, including but not limited to ToT, to speed up the productization process when needed. Through this type of collaboration, we are able to get our products to the market faster and more efficiently. We also work closely with our customers to ensure that we get immediate feedback through the field tests to further improve our systems tailored to their needs.

What are the key areas of R&D research at ASELSAN and why?

At ASELSAN, we’re working on a wide range of technologies, from telecommunications and information technology to radar, guidance, avionics, electro-optics, defence systems, as well as transportation, energy, health, and smart systems. We’re always keeping an eye on the latest advancements in these areas and directing our efforts to ensure we stay ahead. We focus on promising technologies such as quantum, artificial intelligence and advanced materials and utilizing them in our products. We have a strong R&D team constantly developing innovations in-house. Alongside this, we leverage our strong ecosystem, which includes partnerships with other tech companies and universities, to co-develop and integrate the latest technologies.

Our integrated roadmap plays a crucial role in this process. It helps us plan out how and when we acquire these technologies, making sure we stay on track with our strategic goals. This roadmap ensures we’re always moving forward and ready to meet the evolving needs of our customers and stakeholders.

As a company targeting to be among the top 30 defence companies by 2030, we are constantly investing in research and development and incorporating this mentality in all our processes and activities. A technology hub like ASELSAN may never stop developing its capabilities constantly in the field of research and development. Therefore, we have set a strategic vision for ourselves called ASELSANeXt 2030.

As part of this strategic vision:

◦ With aTalent, we will find and train qualified human resources.
◦ With aFast, we will create a fast and effective working system with digital, lean and agile processes.
◦ We will work on game-changing future technologies with integrated roadmaps within the scope of aTech.
◦ With aMass, we will focus on infrastructure and investments that will increase mass production capability.
◦ With aBusiness, we will adopt an export and business development focused organization, branding and product focused approach.

What have been the chief results of ASELSAN R&D over last 3-5 years?

ASELSAN, one of Türkiye’s R&D leaders, currently has nine R&D centers and we have over 6,700 employees at our R&D centres. We are fully focused on advanced technologies with our R&D centres and personnel because ASELSAN has been developing the best and unique systems in its field with its knowledge and extensive R&D infrastructure for 49 years.

Thanks to our R&D centres, we are reaping the fruits of our development of unique products at high standards based on advanced technologies. Acting on this vision, ASELSAN broke a historical record by spending a total of 19.486 million TRY on R&D and 16.695 million TRY on external R&D in 2023.

Thanks to our R&D centres, we are reaping the fruits of our development of unique products at high standards based on advanced technologies. The fact that we place the highest value on R&D and innovation in our country is recorded by the awards we receive in various categories.

Please elaborate on ASELSAN’s success in developing indigenous radar technology within Türkiye?

ASELSAN, as a company of Turkish Armed Forces is responsible for not only developing high technology radar systems, but also developing an ecosystem of local companies capable of designing and manufacturing certain parts of high-tech radar systems. Aligning to this mission, ASELSAN is currently working with more than 3700 local companies in Türkiye.

Those companies are working on several parts of the radar systems ranging from component level up to subsystem level assembly. Highlighting examples of their outputs are GaN transistors, ASICs implementing certain tasks, digital processing boards, embedded and application-level software products, power amplifiers, solid state transmit and receive modules for AESA radar systems. The examples can be increased but we can simply say that, with our assistance Türkiye has now owes a highly talented ecosystem of technology companies which are working on the design, development and manufacturing of radar system components

Please mention about ASELSAN’s collaboration with foreign partners for defence technology?

ASELSAN, which plays a crucial role in meeting Turkey’s defence and security needs with its skilled workforce and engineering capabilities, has increasingly emphasized its identity as a “global defence company” in recent years.

Following the opening of new offices in Poland, Chile, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia in 2023, and the recent establishment of offices in Balkans, Uzbekistan and Oman, our presence around the world has been remarkably increased. We are now actively present in 20 countries through our 22 entities, and we aim to further expand our global presence with our plans to open new offices. In line with our export-driven growth strategy, we aim to bring our innovative products and modernization expertise to more countries, particularly in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, South Asia, and Africa.

ASELSAN has a strong global presence built over many years through successful technology transfer projects and joint ventures. We have established local production facilities and maintained a reputation for delivering not only solutions but also support for local manufacturing in different regions. Our cultural familiarity with certain regions enhances our ability to train and collaborate with our partners effectively. These investments do not only improve our ability to respond to customer needs immediately, but also strengthens our communication processes. Our increasing footprint globally enables us to establish closer and more sustainable relationships with our customers, thus taking customer satisfaction to higher levels. We believe these partnerships will not only increase job opportunities but will contribute to local economies, as well.

What are the ASELSAN’s future plans for R&D expenditure, infrastructure and partnerships with Turkish academia?

As an R&D-oriented technology company, ASELSAN continuously evolves, innovates, and renews itself, steadfastly pursuing our transformation journey. In order to increase the national contribution in R&D projects we do our absolute best to utilize the technological opportunities available in the country. For this purpose, we collaborate with all our stakeholders in our R&D activities and mutually feed into the ecosystem we exist in. Therefore, university-industry collaboration is at utmost importance for us in terms of transforming the scientific knowledge generated at academia to practical knowledge that can be used in the product development processes.

In this ecosystem, we work together with TÜBİTAK (Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye), universities, research centres, techno parks, our subcontractors and public institutions, in coordination with the Ministry of National Defence, Ministry of Industry and the Department of Technology and Defence Industries.

We also offer many development opportunities to our work force after starting their academic career at ASELSAN. Our employees have the opportunity to pursue master’s and doctorate degrees at Türkiye’s best research universities as part of the ASELSAN Academy, with the aim of reinforcing their technical capabilities for the projects they work on at ASELSAN.