Defense industry aims to boost exports to $11 billion by 2028

ISTANBUL

The Turkish defense industry aims to increase its export revenues to $11 billion by 2028, according to the Defense Industry Agency (SSB).

The fast-growing defense and aerospace industry’s turnover will climb to $26 billion in 3 years, the agency said in its annual report.

Exports stood at only $28 million in 2022.

Türkiye’s defense and aerospace industry reached a record $7.15 billion in exports in 2024, a 29 percent surge from the previous year. The industry’s turnover was $15 billion last year.

Türkiye ranked 11th among global defense exporters. Turkish defense products were exported to 183 countries last year.

The number of employees in the industry will increase from the current over 100,000, which is more than the active personnel in the armies of several EU member countries, such as Austria, Bulgaria and Portuguese, to 150,000 by 2028.

Local defense firms carried out 1,100 projects last year, up from 62 in 2022. The size of those projects was around $100 billion.

Türkiye boasts a greater number of defense companies than all of Europe combined, according to Haluk Görgün, president of SSB said last month.

There are over 3,500 companies active in Türkiye, while the total number across entire Europe is 2,800, according to Görgün.

In the first two months of 2025 alone, Turkish defense companies signed international deals worth more than $1.5 billion, while their deliveries rose 34 percent year-on-year to $650 million.