Türkiye’s defense industry undergoes strategic transformation over 25 years
Türkiye’s defense industry has transformed from a foreign-dependent sector into a major producer of original platforms and systems, with exports rising from $248 million in 2002 to over $10 billion in 2025.
- Türkiye
- Anadolu Agency
- Published Date: 05:04 PM 14 August 2026
The Turkish defense industry has evolved from a foreign-reliant structure based on licensed production and grown into a sector with significant transformations in scale, capability, domestically produced content, exports and product diversity over nearly a quarter-century.
Turkish defense has turned into a sector that develops original platforms and systems, invests in critical technologies and exports high-value-added products across the globe.
In 2002, Türkiye had only 56 defense firms and some 62 projects underway.
The number of defense companies surged to more than 4,500, and the number of projects surpassed 1,400 in 2024-2026.
The total project volume skyrocketed from $5.5 billion in 2002 to over $100 billion today.
Defense and aerospace exports surged from $248 million to $10.05 billion in 2025, while totaling $5.79 billion in the first six months of 2026 and $11.2 billion over the past 12 months as of July.
Research and development spending increased from $49 million to over $3.5 billion, while the domestically produced content ratio increased from 20% to more than 85%.
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