President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday reiterated the ground Türkiye has covered in the defense industry and said the main goal in the coming period would be to manufacture high-technology systems faster and in greater numbers.
Erdoğan's remarks came as he inaugurated new production facilities of the Turkish defense pioneer Roketsan and laid the foundation for additional plants in the capital Ankara. The event also saw the delivery of new products to the security forces.
"The main objective for the defense industry in the coming period is to produce high-tech products faster, more effectively and in higher quantities," the president said.
Years of investment have helped Türkiye evolve from a country heavily reliant on foreign defense systems to one where domestically developed platforms meet almost all of its needs.
For much of the past two decades, Ankara has expressed frustration over its Western allies' failure to provide adequate defense systems against missile threats despite Türkiye being a NATO member.
The transformation since the early 2000s has driven the development of a broad range of homegrown air, land and naval platforms, reducing foreign dependency from around 80% to below 20% today.
Erdoğan said on Tuesday that the new investments would significantly strengthen Türkiye's layered air defense architecture and missile production capabilities.
"With the systems that make up the striking power of the Steel Dome reaching a higher production tempo, we will further reinforce our air defense architecture," Erdoğan noted.
He said the new infrastructure established for air defense systems, strategic missile projects and smart munitions would raise the deterrence of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) to a much higher level.
"We are living through a period in which digitalization and artificial intelligence-based algorithms are reshaping the concept of defense from top to bottom," Erdoğan said, noting that the quality of products and software needed on the battlefield is changing rapidly as technology advances.
Erdoğan said Türkiye was now at a level in the global defense industry "that is pointed to with admiration," adding that the country feels safer amid growing regional conflicts and missile and drone warfare.
"Today, while missiles and drones are flying around us, we can feel secure and sleep peacefully at night," he said.
The capabilities of Türkiye's defense platforms, led by its combat drones, helped it seal billions of dollars' worth of deals in recent years.
Türkiye's defense exports sealed a record 2025, rising about 48% year-over-year to more than $10 billion.
Shipments rose 12.1% on an annual basis in the first quarter of this year to $1.91 billion.
The goal for 2028 is to lift the full-year figure to $11 billion, placing Türkiye among the world's top 10 biggest defense exporters, Erdoğan said.
Erdoğan said Türkiye was leaving behind another major milestone on the path toward full independence in defense production. He announced the opening of fuel production facilities in Kırıkkale, a warhead facility in Lalahan, and an Advanced Technologies R&D and Engineering Center.
He also said systems including Tayfun, Siper, Atmaca, Hisar-A, Hisar-O, Sungur, Çakır, SOM, MAM-T and MAM-L would be delivered to the military, while the foundations of the Lalahan Missile Integration Facilities would also be laid.
Erdoğan said the completed investments totaled $1 billion, while the overall scale of the projects would eventually reach $3 billion.
"With these facilities and systems, whose total completed investment value has reached $1 billion and whose overall investment scale will reach $3 billion, we will reach our goals faster and accelerate the determined steps we have taken," he said.
