Erdogan: Total budget of Turkish defense industry enterprises to grow to $75B

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the government intends to increase the total budget of the country’s defense industry enterprises to $75 billion, Report informs referring to TASS.

“The number of projects in the defense industry has grown from 62 to 750, the number of companies increased from 56 to 2,700. Today this figure has exceeded $60 billion. Taking into account the projects that are at the tender stage, we will increase the budget of the defense industry to $75 billion,” said Erdogan, speaking at the ceremony of handing over the first domestic landing ship Anadolu to the army.

The increase in funding will lead to “new breakthroughs in all areas,” he noted.

“We have reached a noticeable level of reducing foreign dependence in the defense sector. Now the share of domestic and national developments and participation has reached 80%. We do not only build equipment, but also produce ammunition. There is a demand for our products in and beyond the country,” said the Turkish president.