Defense industry of Turkey

The defense industry of Turkey has a long history, dated from the Ottoman Empire, and has changed several times during the Republic period. The Turkish defense industry has achieved significant growth with state support in line with the independence decision taken in the defense industry in 1974. The Turkish defense industry has gained great field experience with the operations of the Turkish Armed Forces in Iraq, Syria and Libya. This situation has attracted the attention of many countries, especially in Europe, and has led to cooperation with Turkey in the fields of defense and industry. Today, Turkey produces thousands of products in dozens of different areas, from infantry rifles to fifth-generation fighter jets. As of 2024, Turkey will meet more than 70 percent of its defense industry needs with domestic production. By 2025, Turkey's defense industry needs will have exceeded 80 percent of domestic needs and R&D spending will reach $3 billion annually. In 2024, there were 3,500 defense industry companies working on more than 1,100 projects in the country. In 2024, the Turkish defense industry's exports abroad exceeded $7 billion for the first time in history.

Turkish defense industry companies have made great progress in the field of aviation after 2010. Between 2013 and 2024, 9 military aircraft were produced and flown. Leading Turkish aircraft engine company TEI designed 13 engines in a 10-year period between 2014 and 2024. Flights were carried out with 7 of these engines. 6 of them entered mass production. Defence Industry Agency president Görgün announced that the number of employees in the defense sector is expected to be between 108 thousand and 110 thousand in 2025.

The exact date when the Ottoman Turks started producing rifles and cannons is a matter of debate. However, it is known that cannons were used in the siege of Constantinople during the reign of Bayezid I. The large cannons made by the Turks in 1453 were mentioned by both the Turks and the Byzantines. In particular, the sound these cannons made when fired was described as frightening by the Byzantines. In the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the Turks lured the 30,000-strong Hungarian heavy cavalry into a trap consisting of a defense line of 300 cannons and in this way were able to destroy a large part of the Hungarian army in a period of 2 hours. Until the 18th century, Ottoman weapons facilities were in a position to compete with European states. However, radical technological changes and the industrial revolution that emerged from the end of the 18th century caused the gap between Europe and the Ottomans to widen rapidly. The Turkish manufacturing industry could not keep up with the rapid changes in cannon and rifle technology, and in many cases, it was preferred to purchase materials from abroad. Especially with the emergence of smokeless powder, rifled guns and armored ships, the technological gap between the Ottomans and Europe widened to an uncompetitive level.

Turkish shipyards, which had been producing ships in large quantities for centuries, came to the point where they could no longer produce modern ships.^{[dubious – discuss]} Despite the great decline in the shipping sector, the Ottomans did not give up their desire to produce cannons and rifles. From the 1840s onwards, they tried alternative methods such as technology transfer or purchasing machinery. Many heavy industry investments such as the Zeytinburnu Iron Factory were also made. By the 1890s, the Ottomans were generally producing German rifles and cannons under license, but production quantities were insufficient. The Crimean War of 1853-56, the Turkish-Russian War of 1877-78 and the large-scale rebellions that occurred regularly throughout the empire made it necessary for the state to constantly purchase weapons from abroad. In addition, the shortage of qualified workers was another factor. The Balkan War of 1912 led to the loss of Salonika, the largest industrial city of the empire. The occupation of Istanbul in 1918 caused Turkey's only defense industry center to be taken out of control by the Turkish army. This situation paralyzed the logistic structure of the Turkish army fighting the occupying Greek army in Anatolia. With the establishment of the republic in 1923 and the recapture of Istanbul, it was decided to move the defense industry to the farthest place from a possible enemy invasion, namely the center of the country. For this reason, the cannon, rifle, ammunition and gunpowder factories in Istanbul were transferred to the capital Ankara and surrounding cities. New factories also began to be built in Ankara and its surroundings. Having the view that defence industry is a part of the overall industrialization and development, the Republican Administration supported the State's guidance in industrialization and therefore the defense industry during the first planning period. Despite such activities as the in-country aircraft production, a strong infrastructure could not be established due to internal and external conditions. The cannon, rifle, gunpowder, and ammunition factories (Tophane-i Amire, Tüfenkhane-i Amire, and Baruthane-i Amire) in Istanbul were moved to Ankara and gathered under the name of General Directorate of Military Factories. In 1950, all these factories were combined under the name of Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation.

In the post World War II Period, activities in defense industry initiated during the first years of the Republic were not sufficient due to lack of State support, which came to a halt as a result of the foreign military aid received upon promotion of bilateral relations with the United States and Turkey's membership of NATO.

However, regional problems Turkey faced in the 1960s, Cyprus crises in 1963 and 1967, Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and the arms embargo following the invasion necessitated the development of a defence industry based on national resources. After 1974, Turkish Armed Forces Foundation were established with this understanding and some investments, though limited were initiated.

Besides the administrative and financial difficulties in maintaining and improving the national capabilities, limited national resources as well as the procurement policies proved insufficient to fill the increasing gap in Turkish Armed Forces defence equipment.

Machinery, craftsmen and workmen transferred discreetly from Istanbul and its surroundings at the end of the First World War played a crucial role in winning the War of Independence. Small scale and simple workshops in Ankara, Konya, Eskişehir, Keskin and Erzurum not only provided light weapons and ammunition but also lay the foundation for a sound local defence industry infrastructure.