Aselsan keeps its place among top 50 defense companies

Turkey's top defense company Aselsan has been placed 48th in Defense News Top 100 list for 2020 with $2.2 billion in revenues.

The prestigious American magazine compiles the list in accordance with companies' annual defense revenues.

Aselsan increased its defense revenues by 2 percent year-on-year in 2020, according to Defense News.

U.S. companies Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamic topped the list with annual defense revenues of $62.5 billion, $42 billion, $32.4 billion, $31.4 billion and $29.8 billion, respectively.

Aviation Industry Corporation of China ($25.4 billion) and British defense giant BAE Systems ($23.5 billion) followed them.

Turkish Aerospace Industries ($1.2 billion) ranked 68th, down from 53rd in 2019.

In the previous year, five other Turkish companies - BMC, Roketsan, STM, FNSS and Havelsan - also entered the top 100 list.

Aselsan CEO Haluk Görgün said in a written statement that Aselsan continued its activities uninterruptedly despite the coronavirus pandemic last year.

The company struck export deals with counterparts in six foreign countries in 2020, he added.

"As the locomotive company of our domestic and national defense industry, our turnover rose 24 percent year-on-year to 16 billion Turkish Liras," Görgün said.

Turkey's defense and aerospace industry exports racked up $2.3 billion in 2020.

The sector's exports declined 16.8 percent compared to 2019, according to data from the Turkish Exporters' Assembly (TİM).

Turkish defense and aerospace industry's share in the country's total exports was 1.3 percent, while the value of the sector's export products per kilogram amounted to some $48.

The United...