Turkish Aerospace Industries

Turkish Aerospace Industries (Turkish: Turkish Havacilik ve Uzay Sanayii, branded TUSAS/TAI) is Turkey's national aerospace and defense manufacturer, headquartered in Kahramankazan, Ankara Province. The company traces its roots to 1925 (as TOMTAS) and was re-established in its current form in 1973 under Turkey's Ministry of Industry and Technology to reduce the country's dependence on foreign suppliers for defense aviation; it was restructured in 2005 when Turkish shareholders bought out foreign partners, merging the original TAI and TUSAS entities into a single company. TAI is jointly owned by the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation (54.49%) and the Presidency of Defence Industries/Defence Industry Agency (45.45%). As of 2025 the company reports approximately 17,000 employees, including roughly 7,000 engineers and 6,000 technicians, organized across seven strategic business units covering aircraft structures, fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, unmanned systems, space, combat-aircraft development, and engineering/integrated logistics support services. Its manned-aircraft programs include the HURKUS basic/advanced trainer (EASA CS-23 certified), the HURJET jet trainer, and the in-development KAAN fifth-generation stealth fighter, on which it has recently been collaborating with GE Aerospace and securing US export licensing for jet engines. Its rotary-wing programs include the T129 ATAK attack helicopter, the T625 GOKBEY utility helicopter, and newer T629/T929 ATAK 2 designs. In unmanned systems, TAI produces the ANKA and ANKA-3 medium-altitude long-endurance UAV families, the AKSUNGUR long-range/heavy-payload UAV, and the SIMSEK-K loitering munition-class system, alongside aerostructures work supplying fuselage panels, wing components, and landing-gear doors for commercial aircraft programs. In space systems, TAI has built the GOKTURK-series earth-observation reconnaissance satellites and contributed to Turksat communications satellites. The company markets itself with the taglines 'Empower Your Future' and 'We Are Aiming Higher,' and operates a dedicated career portal and contact channels through its Ankara headquarters at Fethiye District, Havacilik Avenue No:17, 06980 Kahramankazan, reachable at +90 312 811 18 00. TAI also provides integrated logistics support, maintenance, and engineering services for the full lifecycle of the platforms it designs and builds, and it participates in multinational programs alongside partners such as GE Aerospace on propulsion for the KAAN program. Its testing infrastructure includes wind tunnels, structural test rigs, and avionics integration labs used to support both its own aircraft programs and third-party aerostructure and MRO contracts. As one of the largest employers in Turkey's defense-industrial base, TAI plays a central role in the country's stated strategy of reducing reliance on imported combat aircraft, helicopters, and unmanned systems.