General Atomics urges US defense industry reform, points to Türkiye’s UAV market lead

U.S. defense manufacturer General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) has sent a letter to Elon Musk, expected to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under President Donald Trump’s administration, advocating for significant reforms in U.S. defense acquisition policies. In the letter, the success of Türkiye’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market is mentioned.

In the letter, CEO Linden Blue emphasized GA-ASI’s leadership in unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and its ongoing struggles with bureaucratic hurdles that hinder the timely delivery of critical technologies.

Blue highlighted that these inefficiencies have allowed competitors like Türkiye, China, and Israel to secure important international defense contracts.

We propose to apply our decades of experience with defense acquisition to address the policies, procedures, and organizational oddities that hinder timely delivery of critical capabilities to warfighters.

Within GA-ASI’s own export market, poor US Government (USG) policy and sluggish bureaucratic decision-making has opened the door for competitors like China, Türkiye, and Israel to win important international customers.

Sales lost to these competitors while we waited on some USG action means less funding available for re-investment into R&D and modernized manufacturing infrastructure.

Linden Blue, Chief Executive Officer of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc.

The U.S. and other countries are having a hard time competing with Türkiye’s increasing dominance in the defense industry. Türkiye is currently the leader in the world’s armed UAV market.

Call for bold leadership and urgent reforms

The letter outlined three key areas needing attention:

• Delays in acquisition: Blue called for setting time limits on Department of Defense (DoD) milestones, ensuring that the period between requirements definition and initial operating capability does not exceed five years. He argued that special rules to expedite acquisitions are underutilized and often diluted by slower processes.
• Accountability in foreign military sales (FMS): General Atomics urged streamlining the fragmented execution of the U.S. FMS system, proposing clear lines of authority and responsibility. The company recommended a modern IT system to track billions of dollars in administrative funds to improve efficiency.
• Modernizing MTCR: The letter proposed updating the U.S. interpretation of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) to focus on missile technology tied to weapons of mass destruction, rather than unmanned aerial systems. This would counter foreign suppliers who benefit from not being subject to similar restrictions.

“Bold leadership is needed,” the letter stated, emphasizing that past reform efforts often failed due to resistance from the very organizations they sought to reform.

Türkiye’s UAV market leadership emphasized

The letter underscored Türkiye‘s dominance in the global UAV market, with a 65% market share. Blue attributed this to streamlined policies and efficient decision-making processes, contrasting it with the U.S. system.

“Sales lost to competitors while waiting on U.S. government action means less funding for reinvestment into R&D and modernized manufacturing infrastructure,” Blue wrote.

The Bayraktar Akinci, introduced in 2019, further solidified Türkiye’s position as a leading player in the industry. Bayraktar noted that the Bayraktar Akinci has already been exported to 10 countries, while the Bayraktar TB2 holds the distinction of being the most-exported unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) worldwide.

Baykar, which holds a significant portion of Türkiye’s UAV market share, commands nearly 60% of the global UAV market in large platforms.

“Baykar has been the world’s largest UAV company for the last three years and is now three times larger than its closest American competitor,” Selcuk Bayraktar, chairman and chief technology officer of Baykar said. “We are preparing for the future, not yesterday or today.”