From UPI:  A recent report has valued the Turkish defense industry market at $14 billion.

The statistic is contained in "The Turkish Defense Industry: Market Opportunities and Entry Strategies, Analyses and Forecasts to 2017," MarketResearch.com reported.

As Turkey’s economy is booming, the country is seeking to ramp up spending on its military. Turkey’s Undersecretariat for Defense Industries projects that Turkey will spend up to $8 billion in defense purchases as its exports will reach $2 billion in 2016.

Among the planned purchases are about 100 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Lightning II aircraft.

Besides the F-35s, the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries’ updated 2012-16 strategic program includes Turkey purchasing U-214 submarines from Germany.

Extending the projected defense purchases, Turkey is also meeting with four key foreign defense manufacturers on a $4 billion Long Range Air and Missile Defense Systems project.

The Turkish Ministry of Defense said the nation’s defense budget for the 2012 fiscal year marks a 7.4 percent increase over 2011 defense spending, comprising 1.3 percent of the gross domestic product for 2012. . . .

Minister of Defense Ismet Yilmaz said the ratio domestic armaments production for the Turkish armed forces in 2010 reached 52 percent from around 15 percent in 2004.  (photo: AP)

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