Turkey’s defense exports reach record $5.79B in first 7 months of 2026

ANKARA — Turkey’s defense and aviation exports reached $1.12 billion in July, up 14.4% from the same month last year, the head of the country's Defense Industry Agency, Haluk Gorgun, said Monday.

What happened: Exports in the first seven months of 2026 rose 26.2% year-on-year to $5.79 billion, according to Gorgun.

“Our exports over the last 12 months have risen to the level of $11.2 billion,” he wrote on X.

Gorgun did not provide a breakdown by company, product or destination, leaving it unclear which contracts or deliveries drove the increase.

However, Turkey’s defense export growth has been driven in recent years by overseas sales of armed drones, missiles, armored vehicles, naval platforms and electronic systems.

Rockets, missiles and smart munitions have emerged as Turkey’s largest defense export category, generating $3.7 billion in sales last year, according to Trade Minister Omer Bolat, while unmanned aerial vehicle exports reached $2.1 billion.

ASELSAN, Turkey’s largest manufacturer of defense electronics, signed $629 million in new export contracts during the first quarter, up 69% from a year earlier, according to its website. 

The agreements covered communications, air defense, avionics, electronic warfare and electro-optical systems, but the company did not provide a full breakdown by country.

Among the disclosed agreements were $171 million in contracts with customers in the Asia-Pacific region for communications equipment and payloads for unmanned surface vessels. ASELSAN has also recently secured major orders from Poland, including a $410 million electronic warfare contract signed in December 2025.

In January, STM, a state-controlled Turkish defense engineering company specializing in naval platforms and autonomous systems, announced an agreement to export KARGU, a rotary-wing “kamikaze” drone, and ALPAGU, a fixed-wing loitering munition, to an unnamed European Union and NATO member country. 

Meanwhile, continued deliveries by Baykar, Turkey’s largest drone manufacturer, of its Bayraktar TB2 and Akinci combat drones under previously signed contracts alongside new agreements for its Kizilelma unmanned combat aircraft likely contributed to the record figures.

In May, Baykar signed its first export agreement with Indonesia for Kizilelma sales. The agreement covers 12 aircraft, with deliveries scheduled to begin in 2028, and includes options for as many as 48 more. 

Baykar also signed an agreement with the United Arab Emirates’ EDGE Group in May 2026 to integrate EDGE-made guided weapons onto Baykar drones. 

Why it matters: Defense exports have increasingly become a diplomatic tool in Turkey's foreign policy arsenal, paving the way for long-term defense cooperation that extends beyond one-off equipment sales into training, maintenance, joint production and technology transfers. 

The sales also allow Turkey to play a larger role in Europe’s emerging defense architecture by integrating Turkish companies into European supply chains and procurement programs.

At a time when European Union countries are scrambling to diversify suppliers, replenish depleted stockpiles and reduce dependence on a small number of established defense manufacturers, Turkish companies are increasingly positioning themselves as faster and more cost-effective alternatives.

Ankara has stepped up investment in domestic drones, missiles, armored vehicles, naval platforms and military electronics over the past decade amid foreign restrictions and defense sanctions. 

Turkey’s defense and aerospace exports reached $7.15 billion in 2024 before climbing roughly 50% to a record $10 billion in 2025, according to government figures.  

Know more: Turkey ranked as the world’s 11th-largest exporter of conventional arms in 2021-2025, accounting for 1.8% of global exports, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s Trends in International Arms Transfers, 2025 report. 

The volume of Turkish arms exports rose 122% compared with 2016-2020, while its share of global exports doubled from 0.9% to 1.8%, SIPRI data show.