Over practically a quarter-century, Türkiye’s protection sector has remodeled from foreign-dependent licensed manufacturing right into a high-capacity trade pushed by excessive home content material and strong world exports.
The transformation coincides with the 25-year interval of the ruling Justice and Improvement Occasion (AK Occasion), which marked its anniversary on Friday.
Türkiye now develops a broad vary of indigenous platforms and techniques, invests in vital applied sciences and exports high-value-added merchandise throughout the globe.
In 2002, Türkiye had solely 56 protection corporations and a few 62 initiatives underway. These figures at the moment stand at greater than 4,500 and 1,400, respectively.
The whole venture quantity skyrocketed from $5.5 billion in 2002 to over $100 billion at the moment.
Protection and aerospace exports surged from simply $248 million to $10.05 billion in 2025.
Shipments hit $5.79 billion within the first seven months of 2026 and totaled $11.2 billion on an annualized foundation as of July.
Türkiye is at the moment the world’s Eleventh-largest protection exporter and is near breaking into the ranks of the highest 10.
For a lot of the previous 20 years, Ankara has expressed frustration over its Western allies’ failure to offer sufficient protection techniques in opposition to missile threats regardless of Türkiye being a significant NATO member.
That prompted it to speculate billions of {dollars} to remodel from a nation closely reliant on tools from overseas to at least one that may be a main exporter and the place homegrown techniques now meet nearly all of its protection trade wants.
Its analysis and growth spending elevated from $49 million in 2002 to over $3.5 billion, whereas the domestically produced content material ratio elevated from 20% to greater than 85%.
Shift to home growth
The Turkish protection sector supplies direct employment to over 100,000 folks, and the common age of a protection trade employee is 34.
Turkish protection was dominated by off-the-shelf purchases, licensed manufacturing and know-how switch within the early 2000s. This pattern step by step shifted to advertise home growth, homegrown unique design and the localization of vital subsystems.
The sector’s scope of operations expanded as venture scales grew, with a broad vary of merchandise and applied sciences rising, akin to armored automobiles, standard platforms, unmanned techniques, warships, jet plane, air protection techniques, radar and digital warfare techniques, sensible munitions, engines, house know-how and superior electronics.
The Turkish protection and aerospace trade made round $1.1 billion in income in 2002, whereas this determine exceeded $20 billion by 2026.
Unmanned aerial automobiles
Unmanned aerial automobiles have been one of the crucial vital areas of transformation over the previous 25 years.
Protection agency Baykar’s Bayraktar TB2 unmanned fight aerial car turned one of the crucial symbolic breakthroughs in Turkish protection.
The fight drones earned worldwide fame after proving their capabilities in a number of conflicts, together with Syria, Libya, Karabakh and Ukraine.
Their success ultimately helped Türkiye change into one of many world’s high drone exporters.
Baykar’s multirole Bayraktar Akıncı platform additional improved Türkiye’s drone capabilities with its excessive payload capability, lengthy vary, superior sensors and heavy munitions integration.
Baykar’s Bayraktar Kızılelma carried Türkiye’s drone experience into the unmanned fighter jet space by combining excessive pace, air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities and the flexibility to function from short-runway ships.
Turkish Aerospace Industries’ Anka and Aksungur unmanned fight aerial automobiles contributed to the event of high-altitude, long-endurance and strategic reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities of Turkish drones by integrating satellite tv for pc communications, homegrown electro-optical techniques, munitions and engines.
Rising aviation trade
The Turkish Aerospace Industries’ under-development twin-engine stealth fighter Kaan and the Hürjet jet coach additionally marked main milestones in Türkiye’s manned aviation.
The Kaan is among the most technologically bold packages in Turkish aviation with its low observability, superior avionics, mission laptop, radar and system integration.
The Hürjet was developed to offer a homegrown coach platform to advance the nation’s functionality to develop manned army plane.
The Turkish Aerospace Industries T129 Atak helicopter’s product and system integration expertise translated into the homegrown T625 Gökbey helicopter, marking an enormous leap in rotary-wing applied sciences.
State-of-the-art naval protection
Past aerial techniques, Türkiye’s nationwide ship venture, referred to as MILGEM, laid the inspiration for home naval platform design, starting from corvettes to frigates.
Developments in fight administration techniques, sensors and weapon integration turned key to making sure independence and export capability in naval protection.
The TF-2000 anti-air warfare guided-missile destroyer prolonged the Turkish Navy’s air protection capabilities to the excessive seas via its long-range air protection and superior radar and weapon-sensor integration.
The distinctive naval engineering capabilities Türkiye gained via the MILGEM venture enabled the event of the nation’s home submarine venture, referred to as MILDEN, to develop underwater platforms.
The partnership between the TCG Anadolu drone provider assault ship and the Bayraktar TB3 fight drone launched a brand new sea-air operations idea to the Turkish protection trade, integrating amphibious capabilities with a UAV able to working from quick runways.
Missile protection techniques
In the meantime, Türkiye’s air protection structure additionally grew with Roketsan and Aselsan’s Hisar and Siper missile techniques, which contributed to a layered air protection structure combining built-in sensors, command-and-control techniques and missile techniques inside a single home structure in opposition to numerous threats at low, medium and excessive altitudes.
Türkiye’s multilayered air protection system, Metal Dome, has been developed by bringing collectively radars, electro-optical sensors, digital warfare parts, command-and-control infrastructure and air protection weapons of varied ranges beneath a standard community.
Roketsan’s Som, Atmaca and Kara Atmaca developed long-range precision strike capabilities for air, sea and land platforms, whereas the identical agency’s Tayfun missile launched the flexibility to have interaction long-range and precision land targets, boosting Türkiye’s strategic deterrence.
Turkish protection additionally developed in floor automobiles, with the primary battle tank Altay establishing a broad industrial ecosystem round vital applied sciences, akin to armor, lively safety, fireplace management and energy packs, whereas additionally highlighting the strategic significance of decreasing international dependence on engines and energy packs.
Aselsan’s Koral digital warfare system and different homegrown radar techniques enhanced the effectiveness of air, land and sea platforms in trendy warfare via radar detection, digital jamming, early warning and sensor superiority.
Indigenous applied sciences
In the meantime, the PD170, TF6000 and KTJ engine initiatives introduced energy system developments for UAV engines, turbofans, cruise missile engines and extra.
These initiatives have been key to making sure platform independence in protection via indigenous engine applied sciences.
On the identical time, Turkish protection remodeled its export mannequin from direct product gross sales to a broader strategy that features coaching, upkeep and sustainment, system integration, co-production and know-how cooperation.
Turkish protection merchandise are exported to some 185 international locations, and round 230 totally different product sorts are actively used worldwide.
The sector’s major purpose this 12 months is to additional independence efforts in vital applied sciences, set up high-volume mass manufacturing capability and completely increase its share within the world market.
