SAHA Expo 2024
Organised by the Istanbul Defense, Aerospace Cluster Association (Savunma, Havacılık ve Uzay KüSavunma in Turkish language) the third “real” edition of SAHA Expo (the 2020 one was virtual due to the COVID pandemic) took place on October 22-26, 2024 at the Istanbul Expo Centre, close to the old international Ataturk Airport, now reserved to private and governmental flights. The exhibition is organised under the auspices of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye and with the participation and support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of National Defence, the Ministry of Industry and Technology, the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye Secretariat of Defence Industries and other civilian and military public institutions.
The eight exhibition halls covered some 90,000 m2, around +50% compared to 2022, and hosted 1,478 exhibitors from 120 countries according to organisers. Land, air, naval, cyber and space, all domains were represented, with Turkish companies accounting for 48% of the total.
On Wednesday 23, in the early afternoon, the news came of the terrorist attack against the Turkish Aerospace Industry premises in Ankara, which changed the mood of exhibitors and visitors, most of whom gathered around the TAI stand the following day at 11:00 to show their solidarity. The event was attended by Haluk Bayraktar, Chairman of the Board of SAHA Istanbul, Yasar Guler, Minister of Defence, and Mehmet Fatih Kacır, Minister of Industry and Technology, each of them giving a short speech in front on a silent crowd, the portraits of the five victims being projected on the wall. A short but well attended ceremony, with many of the exhibitors wearing a mourning rosette with the Turkish flag, while only the national flag was projected on all screens for the entire day on Thursday.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the exhibition on Friday, and in its speech, he underlined that such terrorist attacks will not deter the growth of the defence sector.
According to data released by organisers following the closure of the event, SAHA Expo witnessed the signature of around 200 cooperation agreements between Turkish and foreign companies, 25,000 business-to-business meetings and the launch of 213 new products. Around 100,000 visitors from 121 countries visited the exhibition. Among those 27 ministers, six chiefs of staff and 178 procurement delegations from 35 countries. During SAHA Expo some 133 agreements were signed, worth US$ 6.189 billion, US$ 4.332 billion of which being export contracts.
Hereafter EDR On-Line readers can find the articles related to some of the new defence systems unveiled at the Istanbul Fair Center during SAHA Expo 2024.