Turkey is selling more and more weapons - mostly drones and missiles. In 20 years, arms exports have increased 40 times, and more and more countries in the world are looking for Turkish military production. What goals does Ankara set for itself?
This year's edition of the arms exhibition “SAHA 2026” from May 5 to 9 in Istanbul has become a demonstration of Turkish power - military, technological and economic. When it was first held eight years ago, 189 exhibitors from 12 countries participated, and 13,000 visitors attended. Now, 1,760 companies from 76 countries have joined the exhibition, and the event was visited by 100,000 people. Among them were suppliers from Germany, missile manufacturers from Sudan, China's leading arms concern “Norinco” and the Ukrainian drone specialist “Grimm”, writes “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung“ (FAZ).
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used the occasion to highlight the merits of the Turkish arms industry, which is highly valued not only in the region but also in the world. It is about Turkey's radical transformation from an importer of weapons to an exporter of high-tech weapons. Official data show that arms exports have increased 40-fold since 2002: from $248 million to $10 billion last year, the FACS reported.
Turkey is among the world's largest arms exporters
The crises of recent years and Ankara's regional political interests have contributed to the country taking 11th place among arms exporters. The government has helped by increasing the defense budget to $30 billion - 1.9 percent of GDP, i.e. slightly below NATO's minimum requirement of 2 percent. This, as well as the crises in the region, have led to an increase in defense spending, and growing exports are added to them, the German publication points out.
A growth of ten percent is expected for this year, but it can only be achieved if Turkish manufacturers offer sought-after technologies on the world market. The “Bayraktar“ drones, which gained fame during the war in Ukraine; Today they fly in 37 countries, including NATO. Indonesia is buying Turkish fighter jets, Pakistan is modernizing submarines with Turkish assistance, and Malaysia is buying missiles and ships. Corvettes are being built for Ukraine, which will probably soon be provided to Croatia. At the beginning of the year, Ankara reported the sale of training aircraft and the corresponding simulators to Spain as a great success, and efforts are being made to expand sales in Europe.
As FACS writes, in parallel, Turkish companies are increasingly actively engaged in joint ventures and production in Italy, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Estonia. According to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Turkey has carried out a “revolution in industrial defense policy“, and “we can learn a lot from what Turkey is doing“.
The current situation in the world is only beneficial to Turkey, the German publication notes. The military warehouses are empty, even in the US production is failing to meet demand. According to Turkish media, there have also been requests from the Persian Gulf region. “The Turkish defense industry is growing with each passing day”, quotes a representative of the military ministry as saying.
The new Turkish military production
Currently, according to official information, there are 3,500 enterprises in the country with over 100,000 employees in this field, and it is expected that by 2028 they will reach 150,000. Four-fifths of the production is of Turkish origin, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants this share to reach 100 percent. "If our defense industry is completely independent, it will be a strategic power that will ensure that Turkey's position is listened to in negotiations," says Hakan Karataş, vice president of the Arms Procurement Agency.
Therefore, efforts are being made to independently produce weapons - such as Turkey's first intercontinental missile, the Yildirimhan, with a range of 6,000 km, a truck-mounted anti-drone defense system, underwater drones, or Turkey's "Iron Dome," designed to protect the country from air attacks. Meanwhile, plans are underway in Istanbul to open a public drone park - where young people could learn to assemble drones and control them themselves.