SAMSUNChairman of the Board of Directors on the occasion of TEKNOFEST held in Hayrullah Zafer Aral with his son, Managing Director Cahit Utku Aral invited, “Canik” We went to the facilities of Samsun Yurt Savunma (SYS) Industry and Trade Inc., which produces under the brand name, in the city.
Hayrullah Zafer Aral, the father of the story, the Minister of Industry and Trade of the ANAP period. Cahit Aralinput from:
– My father started industrialism in our hometown Kayseri. “Aral EngineHe took a step by founding his company. It produced Turkey’s first patented diesel engine in the 1960s. Later, he founded Meysu in the 1960s and MeyBuz in the 1970s.
SYS General Manager Cahit Utku Aral He intervened and brought the subject to Canik:
– In 1993, the Erbakan-Ciller Government initiated the Eastern Black Sea Weapons Project. It was aimed to open the production to the private sector under the supervision and responsibility of the Machinery and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKEK). Samsun Arms Industry was established in 1998 within this framework.
Chairman of the Board of SYS Hayrullah Zafer Aral, continued the story:
– After a while, Samsun Arms Industry passed to Ali Rıza Çarmıklı, the founder of Çarmıklı Holding. Ali Rıza Bey sold the company and the production center consisting of 10 looms to my friend from primary school, Cahit Aral.
Father Cahit AralHe reminded that he passed away in 2011:
– As the second generation of the family, me and my brother, then our children got involved. We took over the flag. We had obtained the production benches and production permits of SYS, but there was no salable product.
He also noted that there was not much feasibility during the acquisition of SYS:
– We sat down and calculated. “If we do R&D for 4-5 years, we look at what we can produce, what product we can sell” we thought. There was a cost of 3-4 million dollars.
Utku Aral, emphasized that the company has been doing R&D for 10 years:
– All companies focused on the same products. It was 2008, and we saw that we could not open a space for ourselves with existing products. The pistols were steel-bodied. We also worked for 3.5 years to make a difference in the pistol. We developed the polymer-bodied, needle-fired gun.
Improving their capabilities in 2005, he told MKEK that they produced parts for different weapons:
– In 2008, we stepped into the field of aviation and missile systems. We started to manufacture different components for Roketsan and TAI. The turning point for us was the tender opened by the General Directorate of Security in 2012.
CANİK reported that the TP9 is the first polymer-bodied pistol developed domestically:
– The General Directorate of Security was awarded the tender for a polymer-bodied, needle-fired pistol. It just coincided with our production. We won the tender for 25 thousand units. That tender in a sense “us us” made.
Zafer Aral, He remembered the gun prices in those days:
– The price of foreign brand pistols was around $800. When we stepped in, they went down to $400. We won the tender for $245. Now that type of pistol sells for $200.
He calculated over 1 million pistols:
– When the General Directorate of Security bought 1 million of the $800 pistols, it was paying $800 million. With us, it fell to 200-245 million dollars.
Utku Aral, He stated that with the development of pistol production, they left the business of producing parts for MKEK and left the aviation industry:
– We are currently producing 1300 pistols per day. So, we’re working at a pace that produces one pistol per minute. We produce 3 shifts 6 days a week. We pay attention to production with a serial but boutique mentality.
He pointed out that the largest civilian market for the pistol is the USA:
– We make 75-80% of the pistol exports from Turkey to the USA. Our pistol exports to the USA are around 100 million dollars. The number of pistols we have exported to the USA so far has approached 2 million.
We wondered about the export income per kilo of the pistol, he calculated:
– Our export income per kilo in pistol is 150 dollar watching around.
Erbakan-Ciller The Eastern Black Sea Weapons Project, which was brought to the agenda by the Turkish government in 1993, Aral With the involvement of his family, Samsun Yurt Savunma (SYS) Industry and Trade Inc. came to life with CANİK in dimensions that exceeded the dreams of those years.
The fact that CANİK produces in 3 factories in Samsun, 1 in Istanbul and 1 in the USA and its position as the world’s 7th largest producer of light weapons reveals this…
Production in the USA will increase to 500,000 units
SAMSUN Yurt Defense (SYS)-CANİK General Manager Cahit Utku Aral He stated that they opened their first products, which they started to sell domestically in the mid-2000s, to the world simultaneously:
– We also introduced CANİK TP9, the first member of the polymer-bodied pistol family, to the US market. In 2010, we decided to invest in the USA. We founded Century Arms and CANIKUSA.
He stated that the company’s head office is in Boca Raton (Florida):
– Our production continues in our facility with a closed area of 5 thousand square meters in Vermont.
He noted that they decided to shift production in the USA to Florida:
– With the new investment, our annual weapons production in the USA will increase to 150 thousand units at the first stage. Later, it will reach 300-500 thousand pieces.
Chairman of the Board of SYS-CANİK Hayrullah Zafer Aral, intervened:
– We will send most of the raw and intermediate products that we will use in production in the USA from Turkey.
While the 12.7 mm heavy machine gun was being developed, 100 million pounds of bullets went
SYS-CANIK general manager Utku Aral, He stated that they signed the Platform Machine Gun (PMT) project with the Presidency of Defense Industries in 2018:
– In this context, we developed the CANİK M2 QCB as part of the domestic and national 12.7 x 99 mm anti-aircraft project. It was approved as Turkey’s only and largest caliber machine gun.
He emphasized that it took 3 years to develop the machine gun:
– 160 million lira for this machine gun R&DWe also spent 440 million liras on industrialization. We have achieved the success of being the 5th company in the world that can produce this weapon.
Chairman of the Board of SYS-CANİK Zafer Aral, shared the following information:
– A total of close to 1 million rounds were fired during the R&D and testing phases of the machine gun. In this period, we spent 100 million liras for bullets, each of which is 5 dollars.
Buys AEI in England, will spend 1 billion liras
SYS-CANIK general manager Utku Aral, pointed out the company AEI in his presentation:
– AEI is one of the UK’s defense industry companies. A facility that manufactures the 30 X 113 that can be mounted on aircraft. We’re about to buy that company. We are waiting for final permissions.
He emphasized that the acquisition of AEI would be a first for Turkey:
– It will be the first time that a company from Turkey has purchased a defense industry company from the UK. Our Ministry of National Defense and Defense Industry Presidency also closely followed this purchase initiative.
He drew attention to the feature of the weapon produced by AEI:
– The weapon produced by AEI is not currently produced in our country. Turkey needs this weapon.
Chairman of the Board of SYS-CANİK Zafer Aral, highlighted the following point:
– With this purchase, we will have transferred technology from the UK.
We asked the purchase price of AEI, Zafer Aral shared the following account:
– Together with the purchase and the investments we will make, it will be a 1 billion lira operation.