The accelerated growth in Türkiye’s defense and aerospace industry in recent years has moved to a new dimension with billions of dollars of contracts signed in 2026. According to the data announced by Presidential Defense Industry President Haluk Görgün on October 17, Turkish defense companies signed new contracts worth 15 billion dollars in the first nine and a half months of the year. The agreements, which are expected to reach 20 billion dollars by the end of the year, increase the business volume of not only defense companies but also thousands of domestic manufacturers.
20 BILLION DOLLAR TARGET
The amount of new contracts in the defense industry may increase by another $5 billion in the remaining part of the year. However, not all of the announced figures mean direct export income. Contracts represent new business obligations whose deliveries and payments may be spread over different years. For this reason, the sector’s future production capacity and order accumulation are as important as actual exports.
HUGE ORDERS FOR 16 THOUSAND COMPANIES
Mobility in the defense industry is not limited to large manufacturers. ASELSAN, ROKETSAN, TUSAŞ, HAVELSAN and STM have worked with more than 16 thousand domestic companies in the last three years and placed orders worth over 20 billion dollars to these companies. The total of open orders in the country exceeded 13.4 billion dollars. This table reveals the magnitude of the economic ties that defense production has with different branches of industry such as electronics, software, metal processing and precision manufacturing.
7 BILLION DOLLAR LIMIT
Defense and aerospace exports also continue to rise with new contracts. According to the data of the Turkish Exporters Assembly, in the January-September period of 2026, the sector’s exports increased by 15.6 percent compared to the same period last year, reaching 6 billion 926 million dollars. Exports in the last 12 months amounted to 10 billion 941 million dollars. Exports worth 634 million dollars were made in September alone.
PRODUCTION THAT IS 40 TIMES MORE VALUABLE
One of the most striking indicators that distinguishes the defense industry from other export sectors is the value per kilogram of products. According to Görgün’s statement, the export value per kilogram of defense and aerospace products reaches 40 times the general export average of Türkiye. High value-added fields such as radar, electronic warfare, communication, guidance and software technologies increase the economic weight of the sector.
NEW EQUATION IN THE WEAPONS MARKET
Another dimension of the growth in the Turkish defense industry is foreign policy. Its production capacity, ranging from UAVs and UCAVs to missile technologies, becomes an important tool for Türkiye to develop defense partnerships with different countries. Expanding military cooperation, especially in the Middle East, shows that defense agreements can have not only commercial but also strategic consequences. However, a detailed breakdown of which countries and projects the newly announced $15 billion contracts are distributed to has not been shared.
THE REAL EXAM IS IN THE DELIVERY
New contracts reaching 20 billion dollars will mean a significant business volume for the sector. The economic impact of this will be shaped by production schedules, deliveries, collections and the capacity of the domestic supply chain. In the defense industry, it will now be decisive not only how many billion-dollar agreements are signed, but also how many of these agreements are converted into production and exports on time.
