As a Turkish ship sails towards Japan, the industry looks to eastern exports

A Turkish military ship left on April 8 for a nearly five-month deployment to Japan and other nearby countries.

The Navy deployed its Ada-class corvette TCG Kinaliada to celebrate both the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Japan and to commemorate the 134th anniversary of the sinking of the Ottoman frigate Ertuğrul during a typhoon after its visit to Japan .

But there’s a deeper message behind the ship’s eastward journey, experts told Defense News, one that could help Turkey’s defense industry gain a greater foothold in Asia.

The Asia Anew Initiative, which Turkey launched in 2019, essentially boosts the country’s relations with others in the region, said Diren Doğan, a lecturer at Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University in Turkey.

“With this initiative, Turkey defines itself not as a ‘foreign country’ that has noticed the rise of Asia and started to attach importance to the continent, but as a country with an Asian identity at every stage of its history. And in addition to grappling with the challenges that the continent has presented throughout its history, it is also benefiting from the benefits that it has generated in parallel with the changing business cycle,” Doğan told Defense News.

Some of the countries Kinaliada will visit are users of Turkish defense products. En route to Japan, the ship and its crew have already stopped in Saudi Arabia and Djibouti, with plans to also visit Somalia, the Maldives, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, China and South Korea.

Upon returning home, the ship will stop in the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, India, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Djibouti and Jordan.

Such port visits by military ships are used to improve diplomatic and geopolitical relations. According to the Turkish Defense Ministry, an exhibition of Turkish defense items involving representatives of the company took place during the crew’s stop in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah.

Doğan noted that despite demonstrations of military equipment, the Asia Anew Initiative is not calling on Turkey to take a side “as competition among the great powers escalates.” And that in itself makes Turkey’s weapons attractive, she added.

“This initiative is considered a comfortable area because it puts mutual benefit above the countries’ personal ambitions and avoids their political sensitivities. This created comfort zone increases preference even in a sensitive sector like the defense industry,” said Doğan.

According to statistics shared by the Defense and Aerospace Industry Exporters’ Association, one of the umbrella organizations of Turkish industry, the country’s total exports reached $255.8 billion in 2023, of which $5.5 billion came from defense and space sector.

None of the countries TCG Kinaliada visits during its deployment are listed among the association’s top 10 export clients. But sales to Asian countries – excluding those in the Commonwealth of Independent States – represented 16% of Turkey’s defense and aerospace exports, or almost $1 billion.

“As Southeast Asian countries move away from their former suppliers, such as Russia and China, and seek to modernize their militaries, they will look for cost-effective suppliers that do not hinder their autonomy. Turkish companies, especially in unmanned systems, could have significant advantages in the region,” said Çağlar Kurç, an assistant professor at Abdullah Gül University in Turkey, who has written about the international ambitions of the local defense industry.

“Turkish companies have a price and capacity advantage when selling to Asian countries,” he told Defense News. “Turkish weapons are of high quality and cheap, compared to American systems. Turkey does not use its arms trade relations as leverage; so it is a reliable and credible supplier.”

Turkish defense contractor FNSS has been active in Indonesia and Malaysia since the early 2000s. For the former, it developed a prototype medium tank, which the company eventually developed into the Kaplan MT, which was jointly produced by the Indonesian company PT Pindad. In Malaysia, FNSS has delivered the ACV-300 Adnan armored infantry fighting vehicle.

Maritime technical specialist STM, also a Turkish defense company, signed a contract in 2013 to build a support tanker for the Pakistani navy. The delivery took place in 2018, the same year that Turkey’s ASFAT signed a deal to manufacture a modified Milgem-class corvette for the same country.

In 2021, Turkey sold six T129 Atak attack helicopters to the Philippines for $629 million.

And this year, the Maldives announced it had selected Bayraktar’s TB2 combat drone to patrol the island’s exclusive economic zone. The unmanned aerial system rose to prominence following its use by Ukraine in the war against Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.

Indonesia announced plans in January to buy 45 Atmaca anti-ship missiles from Turkey. The TCG Kinaliada is armed with the weapon, meaning defense officials in host countries could get a chance to see the missile in person.

And in March, Malaysia unveiled plans to purchase Ada-class corvettes for its Littoral Mission Ship Batch 2 program. The TCG Kinaliada is in turn the fourth ship of the Ada class – the first type of combat naval platform designed and built in Turkey.

But if Turkey wants to gain a greater foothold in the East, Kurç said it should consider working with South Korea, which has emerged as a leader in regional defense exports.

Still, it’s a balancing act for potential customers, Doğan noted.

“While the region’s countries are economically fueled by China, they are trying to fend off the security-oriented challenges of Chinese aggression under the US security umbrella,” she said. In implementing all these strategies, they should try not to get too close to the US and anger the dragon (China), while also being careful not to get too carried away by the added value that China brings to their economy offers. from the protective atmosphere of the US.”

“Turkey stands out as a preferred middle ground for countries to diversify their hands in this harrowing process,” she added.