Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz announced that defense spending will increase by 229% while presenting the Medium-Term Program covering the 2027–2029 period. A significant portion of the additional funding allocated to vehicle and equipment procurement is planned to be directed toward products developed by Türkiye’s defense industry.
Defense spending will be assessed under three main headings during the program period. Support will be provided for products whose designs have been completed and that have entered the development phase, systems that will move into mass production, and the procurement in large quantities of products already in mass production.
New systems are expected to enter the inventory
The unmanned combat aircraft KIZILELMA and ANKA III, the HÜRJET jet trainer, components of the ÇELİKKUBBE integrated air defense system and naval platforms are among the products highlighted in the program as expected to enter the inventory soon. The aim is to accelerate their production and delivery.
Increasing the capacity of existing production lines is particularly important in the field of air defense. The mass production of air defense systems developed through the partnership of ASELSAN, ROKETSAN and TÜBİTAK SAGE, as well as the operationalization of a multilayered architecture such as ÇELİKKUBBE, will bring high-volume orders onto the agenda.
New orders are planned for products coming off production lines as mass production capacity increases.
Defense industry companies to take part in NATO projects
As part of the NATO Summit held in Ankara, Türkiye signed agreements and made commitments in areas including strike force capabilities to be jointly developed by member countries, integrated air and missile defense systems, space and surveillance capabilities, critical raw materials for the defense industry, and unmanned aerial vehicle superiority.
Projects involving ASELSAN, ROKETSAN, STM and TÜBİTAK as contractors are expected to play an important role in NATO’s deterrence architecture in the coming years.
Domestic production share exceeds 80%
The aim is to reduce import costs and external dependency through increased domestic production in Türkiye’s defense industry. While imports accounted for approximately 50% of military and defense spending during the 1970–1979 period, that share has fallen to around 10% today.
The share of domestic production in the defense industry, which stood at around 20% in 2002, has risen above 80%. In addition to reducing import costs, the increase in domestic production is expected to strengthen companies’ technology development capacity and contribute to defense exports.
R&D and skilled human resources to receive support
During the new program period, plans include reducing external dependency in critical defense industry products, technologies and services, developing domestic production and innovation capacity, diversifying supply chains, and deepening strategic partnerships.
Research and development, production and innovation capacity in the defense sector will be strengthened. The aim is to expand the areas of use for products and increase the share of domestic contributions by promoting agile production methods.
Increasing interaction between defense industry technologies and civilian applications is also among the program’s priorities. The demand-generation and long-term ordering approach used in the defense industry is expected to be expanded to areas such as healthcare, rail systems, energy equipment, electronics and critical industrial inputs.
Postgraduate education will be supported to address the sector’s need for skilled human resources. Plans also include expanding continuing education, vocational training and professional development programs through cooperation among the public sector, universities and private industry.
