Milgelm seems to have origins in BAE Systems, which has a good foothold as a technology driver for key systems and technologies in Turkey.
I don't wish for this to be a Turkey bashing thread, nor appear to demean. Turkey has made great strides, and continues to make all of us really proud of their achievements. There is a lot we can learn from the brotherly country.
Thank you so much Sir for your reply, BAe does seem to have close relationships with Turkey.
We've seen China get a foothold on military equipment manufacture via reverse engineering and we are seeing Turkey using a more forthright strategy of buying what we call "white box solutions" in the commercial sector. This could surely play a stepping stone, just as reverse engineering did for China.
However, the core of R&D to me is:
1. A culture of innovation, out of the box thinking, research
2. An education that emphasizes the same and not rote learning alone.
3. Technical universities that teach real research and train real researchers
4. A military industrial complex that is run on the basis of technical capability and merit, not one run by retired / semi-retired military officers or by corrupt cronies.
5. An effort to constantly improve products and progress rather than like the Anza or the Bakhtar Shikan, which were ultimately R&D dead ends.
6. A meaningful relationship and back and forth with the customer and their needs, and feedback on how those needs have, or have not been fulfilled.
7. Investment of $$$. But good R&D pays for itself, as we can see in Israel and in South Africa.
