Turkey's Aerospace and Defence Market: A Guide for Overseas Suppliers

Overview

Turkey is one of the most changed aerospace and defence markets in NATO. In little more than a decade, it has moved from licence production and imported platforms towards a defence industry built around domestic design, local production and export. The domestic content ratio in Turkish defence procurement has risen from around 20% in 2002 to 80% in 2024 (Defence Turkey), an explicit Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB) policy track. Defence and aerospace exports reached USD 10.05 billion in 2025, three years ahead of the SSB's own 2028 target (Daily Sabah). Turkish Aerospace Industries designed and flew the KAAN fifth-generation fighter; Baykar built the Bayraktar TB2, Akıncı and Kızılelma and exported to more countries than any other UCAV manufacturer (Defence Turkey); BMC, FNSS, Otokar and Roketsan have moved from licence partners to global competitors. For an overseas supplier, the question is not whether Turkey buys. It is what Turkey is willing to buy, what it expects to localise, and how much technology transfer sits behind the offer.

Aerospace and defence are central to national industrial strategy, not adjacent to it. Turkey's 2025 defence and security budget is approximately USD 46 to 47 billion, a record level (Militarnyi), ring-fenced under the Defence Industry Support Fund and politically locked in. The 80% domestic content ratio is tested against every procurement decision. Roketsan's SOM cruise missile and Siper long-range air defence are sold into nearly 50 countries, and TAI at Kahramankazan holds single-source positions on Airbus A350-900/-1000 ailerons, A320 Section 18 panels and Boeing 787 elevators (TUSAŞ). Overseas suppliers are not only looking at Turkish Armed Forces demand. They are looking at a supply chain that now sells into global defence and civil aerospace programmes.

The civil side matters as well. TAI / TUSAŞ at Kahramankazan employs around 18,000 people as of September 2025 (Türkiye Today). TEI TUSAŞ Engine Industries at Eskişehir, in which GE Aerospace holds 46.2%, machines turbine and compressor components for CFM LEAP, CFM56, GEnx, GE9X and GE90 (GE Aerospace). Turkish Technic, a top-20 global MRO with around 11,500 staff, is building a Rolls-Royce Trent XWB/7000 maintenance centre that joins the Rolls-Royce TotalCare network from end-2027 (Rolls-Royce).

Turkey is open to overseas suppliers, but not to passive exporters. The strongest openings are where an overseas company brings technology, capacity, specialist materials, propulsion, electronics or manufacturing know-how that the Turkish base still needs. Finished systems without a local production or technology-transfer plan will face resistance. Suppliers that arrive with a credible Turkish partner, a localisation plan and a clear place in the Turkish prime structure will be taken more seriously.

Realistic entry routes run through Turkish primes rather than direct government engagement: Tier-2 and Tier-3 positions into TAI, Aselsan, Roketsan, FNSS, BMC and Baykar on defence work, commercial Tier-2 relationships with TAI aerostructures and TEI on civil, and SAHA Istanbul cluster membership as a practical route for SMEs.

Major Players

Turkey's aerospace and defence base is concentrated around Ankara and Istanbul, with a handful of companies accounting for the bulk of revenue, employment and programme workshare. The table below sets out the ten firms an overseas supplier is most likely to encounter.

Leading sub-sectors

Turkish defence domestic content ratio 2002-2024

Turkish defence domestic content ratio 2002-2024

Category	Value
2002	20%
2007	35%
2012	54%
2015	50%
2017	65%
2020	70%
2022	75%
2024	80%

Unmanned Systems

Turkey is the world's leading UCAV exporter by country count. No country has moved faster from licence production to its own unmanned aircraft systems design. Baykar, privately held and run by Haluk Bayraktar as CEO, reported USD 2.2 billion in export revenue for 2025, approximately 90% international. By year-end 2025 the company had signed export agreements with 37 countries, including 36 for the Bayraktar TB2 and 16 for the Bayraktar Akıncı (Defence Turkey).

The product range centres on four platforms. The Bayraktar TB2 is the medium-altitude combat UAV that built the export story, combat-proven in Ukraine, Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh. The Bayraktar Akıncı is a high-altitude long-endurance heavy-strike UAV operating with Turkey, Pakistan and Azerbaijan. Bayraktar TB3 is a navalised variant flying from TCG Anadolu. Kızılelma is Baykar's jet-powered unmanned fighter; afterburner-equipped variants flew in 2025 and autonomous close-formation flight of two aircraft was completed the same year (Daily Sabah). Alongside Baykar, TAI builds the Anka MALE family, Aksungur heavy-lift and Göksungur, with the Anka-3 jet-powered UCAV in flight test. STM supplies the KARGU and TOGAN loitering-munition families, Vestel produces the Karayel tactical UAV, and Aselsan supplies payloads, data links and electronic warfare across the sector.

Baykar's 30 June 2025 completion of the Piaggio Aerospace acquisition, approved under Italy's Golden Power regulation, is the structural shift. Baykar now owns Piaggio's Villanova d'Albenga and Genoa sites (Piaggio Aerospace), giving it a European aerostructures and MRO base and an industrial cooperation framework with Leonardo that includes a Baykar-Leonardo joint venture.

Foreign content most often goes in through engines and powertrain (Baykar buys overseas turboprop and turbofan cores), EO/IR payloads and sensors, data-link hardware, precision-machined structural parts, composites, ground-station subsystems and test equipment. Entry is commercial rather than offset-bound.

By 2030, a meaningful share of NATO and allied unmanned tactical aviation will carry Turkish platforms, Turkish sensors, or both, with Villanova d'Albenga acting as Baykar's European assembly hub and the Baykar-Leonardo joint venture co-developing larger platforms. The honest constraint is propulsion: Kızılelma currently flies on overseas engines, and a fully Turkish turbofan pathway via TEI is years behind the airframe work.

Image placeholder: Baykar Akıncı high-altitude long-endurance UCAV in flight

Source: Baykar Technology press imagery

Aerostructures (civil and military Tier-1)

Turkish Aerospace Industries is an unusual Tier-1: single-source on multiple Airbus and Boeing widebody structural parts while also building indigenous combat aircraft. Kahramankazan headcount rose from 15,000 in 2024 to around 18,000 by September 2025, and TAI has publicly targeted 1,450 aircraft of all types by 2034 (Türkiye Today).

On the civil side, TAI is single-source globally on the A350-900/-1000 aileron, A320 family Section 18 panels and the A330 LR VTP rudder. In April 2025 Airbus extended the A320 rudder scope and awarded TAI sole global supply of all metallic structural parts on the A350F freighter (Daily Sabah). On the Boeing side, TAI is single-source on the 787 elevator, cargo barrier and horizontal leading edge, second-source on the 737 MAX elevator, and holds the 737 fan cowl award from 2021. It processes around 40,000 detail parts per month for Spirit AeroSystems across 737, 747, 767, 777 and 777X.

On the military side, TAI builds the airframes of KAAN, Turkey's fifth-generation fighter, the Hürjet advanced trainer and the T129 ATAK attack helicopter. The first true KAAN prototype is scheduled to fly in May or June 2026, with serial deliveries targeted for 2029 (Flight Global). TEI at Eskişehir manufactures turbine and compressor components for CFM LEAP, CFM56, GEnx, GE9X and GE90, plus the indigenous TS1400 turboshaft for the T625 helicopter, with prototype work on the CFM RISE open-fan demonstrator under way (GE Aerospace). Alp Aviation at Eskişehir and Kale Aero at Istanbul are the Tier-2 precision-machining suppliers into Boeing, Airbus, Sikorsky, Pratt & Whitney and Spirit.

Overseas entry on civil work is commercial, not offset-bound. TAI buys titanium and nickel-superalloy raw stock, castings and forgings, specialist coatings, NDT and inspection services, heat-treatment capacity and assembly tooling. The growth driver is the A320 and A350 production ramp through the late 2020s, the 737 MAX recovery, Turkish Airlines' path to an 800-aircraft fleet by 2033, Pegasus's 150-A321neo orderbook, and the Rolls-Royce Trent MRO centre at Istanbul Airport. KAAN scale-up from 2028-2029 and Hürjet serial production pull parallel military capacity.

Image placeholder: TAI Kahramankazan campus, the hub of Turkey's civil and military aerostructures work

Source: TUSAŞ press imagery

Land Systems and Armoured Vehicles

Turkey's armoured-vehicle industry has moved from export-adjacent to Tier 1 global competitor in a decade. On 28 October 2025 Turkey formally inducted its first serial-production Altay main battle tanks into the Land Forces at BMC's newly inaugurated 63,000 m² tank plant in Kahramankazan, Ankara. Planned capacity is up to 96 Altay tanks per year, with a delivery schedule of 3 in 2025, 11 in 2026, 41 in 2027 and 30 in 2028 in T1 configuration (Türkiye Today; Defense News).

The Altay T1 uses a Korean Hyundai Infracore 1,500 hp DV27K engine paired with an SNT Dynamics transmission; the T2 from 2028 moves to BMC Power's indigenous BATU powerpack. Beyond Altay, FNSS (a 51/49 Nurol Holding and BAE Systems joint venture at Ankara Gölbaşı) builds the Kaplan medium tank and the PARS 6x6 and 8x8 wheeled families, with strong export books in the UAE, Qatar, Indonesia and Malaysia. Otokar (Koç Holding, Sakarya) produces the Tulpar infantry fighting vehicle, the Arma 6x6 and 8x8 APC families and the Cobra II light armoured vehicle. Nurol Makina's Ejder Yalçın has sold in thousands across Africa, the Middle East and the Caucasus, and Katmerciler at İzmir produces mine-protected vehicles.

Foreign content most often goes in through powerpacks and transmissions (the Hyundai-Infracore and SNT Dynamics pattern on Altay T1 is the template); armour materials, both rolled homogeneous and composite; fire-control and optronics (though Aselsan holds much of the in-country ground); tyres and suspension; brake and steering sub-systems; heavy-vehicle machining centres; and test and integration rigs. The FNSS structure, an overseas parent paired with a Turkish industrial footprint, is a tested model.

Demand is being driven by serial Altay production through 2028-2030, Otokar and FNSS export pipelines across Asia and the Gulf, Turkish Army fleet renewal, and a land-systems export market reopened by the CAATSA-driven pivot away from US platforms.

Munitions

Roketsan is Turkey's missile prime and the single most capable indigenous ballistic-missile developer outside the United States, Russia and China. The company opened USD 1 billion of new production facilities in April 2026 and booked over USD 10 billion in new orders in 2025, supplying nearly 50 countries with 2025 exports up more than 100% year on year (Türkiye Today; Breaking Defense).

The product family spans the spectrum. The air-launched SOM cruise missile exceeds 250 km range. The Hisar SAM family covers short to medium range; the Siper long-range SAM, co-developed with Aselsan, is entering service in Block 2 form at 150 km range, with an Indonesian Air Force order placed. The Tayfun is a short-range ballistic missile with a longer-range variant under flight test. Cirit and UMTAS cover anti-armour, and a 155 mm precision-guided artillery rocket family (Khan, TRG-230 and TRG-300) sits alongside. MKE, the state-owned Makine ve Kimya Endüstrisi, produces small and large-calibre ammunition, explosives and propellants.

Foreign content most often goes in through propellants and energetic materials, fuze components and electronics, rocket-motor casing materials, composite and ceramic armour, test-range instrumentation, precision machining for missile body sections, and automated filling-line equipment. The domestic base is strong on assembly and integration but still buys specialist chemistry and high-value guidance electronics from overseas.

Demand is being driven by export demand across the Gulf, Central Asia and North Africa, the Turkish Armed Forces' domestic air-defence build-out, and an indigenous ballistic-missile programme developing across short-range to intermediate-range classes. Roketsan's 2025 contract intake alone exceeded annual output; additional capacity is under construction.

Helicopters

Turkey has two operational helicopter lines and is pushing to reduce its dependence on imported engines. TAI's rotorcraft operation at Kahramankazan runs the T129 ATAK attack helicopter, licence-built on the AgustaWestland A129 base with rising Turkish content, and the T625 GÖKBEY, a civil and dual-use utility helicopter flying with TEI's indigenous TS1400 turboshaft (a 1,400 shp-class engine developed clean-sheet in Turkey, ending a long-standing dependency).

The T129 ATAK has been exported to the Philippines and is in negotiation with other regional operators. The T625 is progressing through certification, with Turkish Armed Forces intake from 2026-2028. On the commercial side, TAI supplies AW139 fuselage and canopy as second-source into Leonardo's global AW139 supply chain; AW139 deliveries passed 1,300 in 2024.

Foreign content most often goes in through gearboxes and drive-train components, rotor-blade materials, flight controls and actuation, cabin interiors, avionics line-replaceable units, composite structural sub-assemblies, and tooling and test rigs. T129 ATAK work carries AgustaWestland heritage, so UK and Italian sub-supply persists; the T625 is a cleaner sheet for overseas suppliers with complementary capability. Demand is being driven by T625 certification and fleet induction, T129 export campaigns across South-East Asia and the Middle East, and civil rotorcraft demand across HEMS, police and search-and-rescue.

Opportunities

Overseas-supplier entries into Turkey fall into recognisable categories: powertrain components; precision-machined structural parts on KAAN, Hürjet, Anka and TAI's civil programmes; composite pre-pregs and structural sub-assemblies; armour materials and ballistic protection; propellants and energetic materials; guidance electronics and seekers; electro-optical payloads; RF and microwave components; specialist raw materials (titanium, nickel superalloys, coatings, bearings); and test, tooling and automation equipment. Civil work at TAI and TEI is commercially driven and does not require offset commitments; defence work typically does.

The right entry tier depends on capability and existing relationships. For classified defence work, overseas suppliers either partner with a Turkish-cleared entity or establish a Turkish subsidiary or joint venture. AS9100 Rev D is the aerospace baseline and NADCAP covers special processes on Airbus and Boeing workshare at TAI. NATO AQAP 2110 or 2210 is typical for defence product assurance, EASA Part 21 Production Organisation Approval applies to civil aerostructures work, and SAHA Istanbul membership is a practical credential into the Tier-2 and Tier-3 base.

Example offsets

Turkish industrial participation is the most explicitly policy-driven offset regime in NATO. The SSB requires technology transfer, local production commitments, and typically 70% or more of contract value reinvested in Turkish industry on any major foreign procurement. Both direct offset (subcontracting on the programme itself) and indirect offset (investment in unrelated Turkish defence or technology firms) are used. The Defence Industry Support Fund ring-fences revenue, giving the SSB budget certainty that most European procurement agencies lack, and the SSB reports directly to the Presidency of the Republic, which means procurement decisions move faster than in most NATO countries.

The relevance runs both ways. If your home country has sold equipment to Turkey, Turkish primes may be expected to place reciprocal work there. When Turkey buys overseas, overseas companies that establish Turkish industrial presence can capture the return spend.

Turkish primes are short of capacity. Roketsan's 2025 order intake exceeded annual output, TAI is ramping KAAN, T129 ATAK, T625 GÖKBEY and Hürjet simultaneously, BMC's new tank plant is just coming on line, and the SSB manages a 750-programme portfolio worth more than USD 75 billion. For an overseas supplier with spare capacity in the right discipline, or a niche specialism the domestic base does not hold, this is where the opportunity sits. Finished systems without a local production or technology-transfer plan should expect friction.

Our Insights

The 80% domestic content target is real, not aspirational. Unlike countries where local-content percentages are stated and quietly waived, Turkey tracks the ratio as a matter of national prestige and the SSB publishes it every year. Every procurement decision is tested against it. An overseas offering without a credible path to Turkish production will be scored down or excluded.

CAATSA has reshaped the supplier base. Turkey's 2019 purchase of the Russian S-400 triggered US sanctions in 2020 and removal from the F-35 programme. Turkey accelerated its self-sufficiency drive and became more receptive to non-US partners: European, Korean, UAE and Asian suppliers in particular. For US suppliers, defence licensing needs careful navigation, though civil work at TAI through Boeing and GE Aerospace continues uninterrupted. For European, Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese, Indian and Israeli suppliers, CAATSA opened doors that had been partly closed before.

Technology transfer is the baseline, not a negotiating chip. The SSB does not treat technology transfer as a concession to be bargained for: it is the starting point. Suppliers arriving with finished goods and no local production plan will be redirected. Those arriving with a joint-production proposal, Turkish engineering involvement and knowledge-transfer commitments will be heard.

Turkish matters at working level. English is fluent at senior level; many executives studied in the US or the UK. But procurement documentation, technical specifications and day-to-day project communication are in Turkish. Having Turkish-language capability in the team, or a resident Turkish representative, materially changes the quality of the engagement.

The pace of Turkey's own capability growth is the single biggest thing overseas suppliers misjudge. Programmes observers expected to take a decade are delivering in five years. KAAN rolled out in March 2023 and flew in February 2024. Altay moved from prototype to serial production in the same window. Roketsan's Siper SAM went from development to Indonesian export order on a similar timeline. Exports passed USD 10.05 billion in 2025, three years ahead of the SSB's own 2028 target. Suppliers working from pre-2020 impressions of Turkish industry are working from outdated information.

Turkish defence and aerospace exports 2015-2025

Turkish defence and aerospace exports 2015-2025

Category	Value
2015	1.7 USD bn
2017	1.8 USD bn
2019	2.7 USD bn
2021	3.2 USD bn
2022	4.4 USD bn
2023	5.5 USD bn
2024	7.15 USD bn
2025	10.05 USD bn

SAHA Istanbul is the practical entry route for SMEs. The cluster reports more than 1,300 member companies across 49 cities, with combined 2025 member turnover of USD 12.59 billion and exports of USD 6.08 billion (SAHA Istanbul). Originally defence-oriented, its civil aerospace component is now material, and the cluster is the most structured Tier-2 and Tier-3 sourcing route into the Turkish industrial base.

Turkish business relationships are built face to face and over time. Tea will be offered repeatedly, and accepting the first glass matters. Senior SSB and prime-contractor officials attend IDEF and SAHA EXPO in person, and structured hosted-buyer programmes around those events are formal introduction mechanisms. A single trade-show visit followed by emails will not produce results. The SSB's direct line to the Presidency means decisions can move quickly in either direction: a programme go-ahead can be authorised in days, and so can a decision against.

Trade Shows

IDEF is Turkey's flagship defence exhibition and the country's largest aerospace and defence trade show. The 2025 edition (27-30 May) drew more than 1,000 exhibitors from over 50 countries. The SSB uses IDEF as a platform for programme announcements and contract signings; senior SSB officials and prime-contractor CEOs attend in person, and structured hosted-buyer programmes make it practical to meet Turkish procurement decision-makers in a single visit. Attendance is the starting point for any supplier serious about the Turkish defence market (IDEF).

SAHA EXPO, organised by SAHA Istanbul, is Turkey's largest aerospace, defence and space supply-chain exhibition, with a rising civil-aerospace component alongside its defence core. It is smaller than IDEF but often more useful for component and subsystem suppliers: the 2026 edition presents the cluster's 1,300-plus member companies alongside an expanded international pavilion, giving visitors a direct line into Turkish prime and Tier-1 sourcing teams in one hall (SAHA EXPO 2026).

We are completing 2025 at USD 10.05 billion with an increase of approximately 48%. We closed 2025 with a new contract record of USD 17.8 billion.

How Westworld helps

Westworld has worked in Turkey's aerospace and defence industrial triangle (Ankara, Kahramankazan, Istanbul and Eskişehir) for over two decades, on both the civil aerostructures side (TAI, TEI, Alp Aviation, Kale Aero, Turkish Technic) and the defence side (Aselsan, Roketsan, Havelsan, FNSS, BMC, Baykar).

We understand how industrial participation conversations are framed, how EYDEP qualification runs, and how SAHA Istanbul membership accelerates Tier 2 access. We know how to sequence AS9100, NADCAP and NATO AQAP against the Turkish commercial cycle.

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If you are considering the Turkish market, or looking to accelerate existing efforts in Ankara or Istanbul, please get in touch.