Yes, he used such an expression. But before this statement, there were both Turkish and KSA sources confirming these developments already.
As you know, they invested 200 million usd in Vestel Karayel-SU. Mass production begins this year. There were some collaborations from past or some joint ventures, notably Taqnia Dst, was a subsidiary of Aselsan, that are pushed into the background due to the deterioration of the relations between them. In other words, some work has been done or tried with KSA in both some of avionics/electronics and structural fields. Therefore, by looking at the experiences that arise during this process, they can understand what the potential can be.
KSA is the world's largest arms importer and they want to improve their domestic production capacity in recent years. There are important opportunities for Turkish companies here. Because the expansion strategy of the Turkish defense industry focuses on providing capability to iits allies rather than selling ready-made products.
