Indo Defence 2025, held in Indonesia from 11-14 June, was a busy time for ASELSAN. On 13 June, the Turkish company opened an office in Jakarta, its fourth such office in Asia after previously establishing ones in Malaysia, Pakistan and the Philippines. Meanwhile, ASELSAN signed various accords at Indo Defence 2025, including with PT Len Industri, Excalibur Army, PT Pindad and PT PAL.
During Indo Defence, Ahmet Akyol, President & CEO of ASELSAN, briefed Asian Military Review on the company’s trajectory and the importance of Indonesia. “We consider this a key market in the region, and we now have more than ten local partners and new teaming agreements.”
“We’d like to increase local contributions by these agreements, and we’ll add maybe other systems like new air defence systems, unmanned surface vehicles, communication systems and also guidance kits. These are potential systems for the Indonesian market and also the region. Maybe we’ll have technology transfers of systems, and these are topics we’re working on with local partners.”
Full steam ahead
With the Indonesian market presenting an upwards trajectory for ASELSAN, the CEO cited more than US$300 million in sales there in recent years, and “we consider we’ll gain even more with our local partners in Indonesia”.
What is causing this upswing? Akyol highlighted two factors: “First of all, the relations between governments. Indonesia is a very close ally of Türkiye. Just this year, the Turkish president visited Indonesia, and the president of Indonesia visited Türkiye. For me personally, this is my third time in Indonesia so far this year. The level of collaboration between our countries is very good.”
Secondly, Akyol said, is the capability of Türkiye’s defence industry. “As an example, from ASELSAN, in 2024 alone, we delivered to the field no fewer than 31 new products! This reflects the dynamism of the company and the country.”
ASELSAN has already reaped success in the Indonesian market. The CEO explained: “In recent years we signed contracts and delivered equipment to the Indonesian Navy and Coast Guard.” This includes CENK 4D surveillance radars, AKREP fire control radars, ALPER navigation radars and GÖKDENİZ 35mm close-in weapon systems.
Akyol also highlighted the popularity of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), for which “some contracts have been signed, and some of them are in the pipeline”. Remote weapon stations like the SMASH and STAMP are popular regionally too.
Akyol noted that Indonesia offers scales of economy. “There are huge armed forces in Indonesia, and there needs to be sustainable production. So because of the scale of economy, it is feasible to make it locally. Also, there’s a vision in this country, so we’re trying to increase local contributions.”
Expertise
Electronic warfare equipment is another strength of the company, and Akyol highlighted the KORAL system as one example. In fact, “One of the largest electronic warfare and radar facilities in all of Europe is in Ankara. Ours is a huge facility, very modern, and just last year we completed new buildings and expanded. Now there’s another phase under construction to expand serial production again. We also have our own chip design and chip production factory in Ankara, so we’re not dependent on anybody. We have the latest technology, we have serial production capacity, and we offer high performance at reasonable prices and with very ambitious schedules.”
Another product line ASELSAN is promoting regionally is air defence systems. “One key solution we offer to end-users is integrated air defence systems. We call ours Steel Dome,” and it leverages lessons learned from events like the Ukraine-Russia war. “This new integrated concept is now ready for international users,” he shared.
ASELSAN is heavily involved in naval programmes too, such as modernising MEKO frigates for the Turkish Naval Forces. “We’re open to collaborate with shipyards. We’re not a shipyard company, so this is an advantage. Sometimes we can cooperate with Turkish shipyards, or with local shipyards in Indonesia, or sometimes international shipyards like Hyundai Heavy Industries, for example.”
Stunning performance
ASELSAN has 12,500 employees, and the workforce’s average age is just 33. In fact, its recent performance has been spectacular. Akyol related: “In last year’s financial results, the growth rate was an 18% increase in revenue. This compares to a defence industry average of 5-6%. Furthermore, in this year’s first quarter, revenue was up 28%.”
Implementing lessons learned from modern battlefields, Akyol highlighted three current strands of effort for ASELSAN. “We’re trying to combine conventional defence systems with new types of cheap and mass producible systems. This is one thing we’re trying to do.”
The CEO continued, “The second is we’re trying to deliver new products faster than before, because innovation speed is very crucial in this century. Our speed of innovation is like a start-up company. Thirdly is our vision for the future. In the past, we believed things must be joint, but now we consider this outdated. We believe equipment must be integrated, as integrated systems are the key feature for success.”
Akyol is certainly ambitious. His goal is for ASELSAN to be one of the 30 largest defence companies in the world by 2030. That is just five years away.
