Turkish Aerospace was incepted under the Ministry of Industry and Technology on June 28, 1973 to reduce Turkey’s foreign dependence in defense industry. With the decision to use F-16 aircrafts to meet the Turkish Air Forces fighter aircraft need, Turkish Aerospace was incepted by TAI in 1984 for a period of 25 years as a Turkish-U.S. joint investment company to carry out the manufacture of F-16 aircrafts, integration of on-board systems and flight tests .
Before the end of the 25-year period, Turkish Aerospace was restructured through the purchase of Turkish Aerospace foreign shares by Turkish shareholders in 2005. Thereunder, TAI and TUSAŞ were merged under Turkish Aerospace Inc. to broaden its activities and has become Turkey technology center for the development, modernization, manufacture, system integration and lifecycle support of the aviation and space industry systems.