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Türkiye has begun construction of a space launch facility in Somalia, marking the country's entry into an exclusive group of nations with oceanside spaceports, Board Chairman of Baykar Selcuk Bayraktar announced on Thursday.
"Türkiye now has a space launch station. Normally, you need to be by the ocean. Türkiye has a 30 kilometer by 30 kilometer area in Somalia," Bayraktar said during a panel at Take Off İstanbul 2025.
"When you have oceanside access, you can deploy launch vehicles, meaning you have a spaceport. There are 12 such places in the world. Because Somalia is part of our heartland geography, there will be a space station there," he noted.
"Construction has been started by the state. Roketsan will also use it. Allah willing, we will also have the opportunity to use our launch vehicle there," Bayraktar added.
Bayraktar discussed Türkiye's space initiatives under the Fergani venture, which employs 130 engineers developing satellite and positioning technologies.
"We are trying to build a global positioning system," Bayraktar said.
"We recently launched our orbital transfer vehicle. Orbital transfer vehicles take you from one orbit to a higher orbit," he noted.
Bayraktar emphasized the strategic importance of an indigenous positioning system for national independence, stating, "Global positioning systems are very critical for our independence because you can jam or spoof global positioning systems."
"Imagine you are traveling somewhere in your car, and it shows you in a completely different place. We are in one of the regions most exposed to jamming in the world. This is also very critical for the defense industry," Bayraktar said.
"Our global positioning system will be named Ulug Bey," Bayraktar added, referencing the 15th-century Timurid astronomer.
Bayraktar said Baykar has become the world's largest unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) company, with 90% of revenues derived from exports.
"We have aircraft in 37 countries. Baykar holds 60% of the world export market," Bayraktar said, noting, "We are a big family of 8,000 people working on high-technology, high-value-added products."
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Bayraktar emphasized energy independence as critical for Türkiye's technological future, particularly for artificial intelligence applications.
"If we are going to have computing power, the path goes through nuclear energy," Bayraktar said, adding, "When operations per second in artificial intelligence are discussed, the question 'How much energy do you have?' comes up."
Bayraktar said Teknofest is organizing competitions in nuclear technology, receiving over 100 applications from participants designing reactors.
Bayraktar also announced Teknofest will be held in Sanliurfa from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4 next year.
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