It is also inviting Turkish firms to help build its own defence industry and exploring agreements to co-produce the country's indigenous military tech. The lessons of the 1970s were reinforced only five years ago when the Trump administration slapped sanctions on Turkey's defence industry and expelled it from the F-35 programme in response to its purchase of Russia's S-400 air defence system. "Because Turkish companies operate in a volatile, unpredictable and problematic domestic economic picture, they operate at higher margins of risk. Turkish companies such as Baykar and Turkish Aerospace Industries have exported UAVs to almost 40 countries around the world. Tasci says that technological advances have made Turkish companies a "critical determinant" of the country's ability to achieve its foreign policy goals.