Prof. Dr. Haluk Görgün, President of Turkey's Defense Industries Secretariat, said the country's role in the global arms market has shifted. "Turkey is no longer a country that is only followed for its products. Turkey is a defense industry that others want to work with and produce together with."
The statement reflects a period of rapid change. In 2025, Turkey's defense and aerospace exports reached $10.05 billion, a 48 percent rise from the previous year, according to official data released by the Secretariat. New defense contracts signed in 2025 totaled $17.8 billion, marking 78 percent growth compared to 2024. The sector's share of Turkey's overall exports climbed from 1.7 percent in 2022 to 3.7 percent in 2025.
Export figures tell only part of the story. The shift Görgün described is visible in the growing number of co-production and technology-transfer agreements Turkish firms have signed in recent months.
On May 14, during President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visit to Kazakhstan, Turkey and Kazakhstan signed a deal to establish a joint venture for the production and maintenance of the ANKA unmanned aerial vehicle. Görgün signed the agreement alongside Nurlan Kuzhayev, head of Kazakhstan's Aircraft Repair Plant No. 406. Görgün said the deal would advance strategic relations and develop joint capabilities.
One week earlier, on May 7, Turkey and Japan held their first formal defense industry cooperation day on the sidelines of the SAHA 2026 defense fair in Istanbul. The two countries' defense procurement bodies signed a letter of intent that could lead to joint development and production of unmanned aerial vehicles. Japan's 2026 defense budget includes roughly $70 million to acquire its first five long-endurance drones.
Also in early May, Kuwait's Defense Minister Sheikh Abdullah Ali Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah met with Görgün in Turkey. The two sides discussed industrial partnership and exchange of technical expertise, according to a Kuwaiti Defense Ministry press release.
These recent agreements build on a broader pattern. In August 2025, Turkish defense firm Havelsan signed a deal with Egypt's Arab Organization for Industrialization to jointly produce autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles, including the BAHA, BULUT and BOZBEY models. In July 2025, Turkey's Katmerciler agreed with Malaysia's Deftech to jointly produce and export EREN 4x4 armored vehicles.
Turkey currently exports more than 230 defense products to 185 countries, Görgün said at the SAHA 2026 exhibition in Istanbul. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported in March that Turkey's share of global arms exports doubled from 0.9 percent in the 2016-2020 period to 1.8 percent in 2021-2025, a 122 percent increase.
The SAHA 2026 fair, which opened on May 5 in Istanbul, drew delegations from more than 120 countries and occupied around 121,000 square meters of exhibition space. Turkish companies signed nearly $8 billion in export contracts during the first three days of the event. Contracts signed in the first four months of 2026 alone approached $7 billion, according to authorities.
Turkey's defense industry has achieved a localization rate of more than 80 percent over the past two decades, Görgün said, covering land, air, naval, submarine and space systems. The country's goal for 2028 is to reach $11 billion in defense exports and rank among the world's top 10 defense exporters.