Airbus looks to expand space cooperation with Türkiye

ANKARA

(AA Photo)

Airbus seeks to expand its collaboration with Türkiye to benefit from the country’s existing satellite expertise and to accelerate domestic technological capabilities, the sales director of the company’s corporate business growth and development unit has said.

In an interview with Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency published on Sept. 23, Carlo Mirra said the company monitors Türkiye’s expanding focus and growing industrial capacity in the space sector.

Mirra said the aerospace ties between the firm and Türkiye could expand further via direct industrial collaboration or intergovernmental agreements involving Türkiye, the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Commission or Airbus’ founding nations.

The discussions came to the fore as Türkiye prepares to host the 77th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2026) in the southwestern city of Antalya under the coordination of the Industry and Technology Ministry and the Turkish Space Agency.

“We are observing here the rapid growth of the political attention and also industrial capacity in Türkiye, and as you know, our company in particular has been present in Türkiye for quite a while,” Mirra said.

“The release of the National Space Program, the space plan, the flight of the astronauts, the ambition to have independent access to space are all important messages that the current political administration in Türkiye are giving in order to let the local industry develop and also emerge in the international environment.”

He said the IAC serves as a springboard to achieve this goal, with over 1,800 abstracts already submitted by Turkish institutions for the technical conference.

“This is providing a direct channel for Turkish researchers and industries also to present their technologies, the progress of their studies, to a truly international environment — from green propulsion to small satellite architectures, I think that this will be a very interesting confrontation for all of them,” he said.

He noted that both established firms and startups will meet international prime contractors and investors during the event.

“Türkiye is really committed to play a major role in this area, and this is proven also by the organization and investment into these events, and I think that this is providing, in terms of international cooperation, in terms of space sustainability and security,” Mirra added.