TR Defence Exports & Updates

Pokemonte13 said:

Is it just me or do the hangars on the opvs look different?

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They are. Ex-Akhisar new Roman was modified a bit, probably to allow hangar space for Romanian IAR-330 Puma. The added section is nicely visible below. Another notch on the flexibility of the design and the Turkish builders tbh.

Based on the increase of Belgian visits to Turkey the likelihood that Sedef will build their frigates is high. Maybe even the export of usv/uavs.

Aselsan is offering its MLU solutions for Brazilian Navy's large surface vessels.


Brazil have some 50 year old British designed T22s and Brazilian built T21s. A large MLU like our Mekos would probably be more expensive in the long run than getting new ships; so I don't expect much, at least regarding frigates. But, it's good that they are out there. We still didn't hear anything from Argentina with their Meko mod program.

The NATO Defence Industry Forum (NSDIF26) has been integrated as a core element of the official summit programme for the first time in Ankara. The first day of the summit, 7 July, will be organized entirely as "Defence Industry Day", and the events will be held at the Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO) Congresium. Multi-lateral roundtables will be established at the forum to address deficiencies in missile capabilities, electronic warfare, artificial intelligence, and intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance (ISR). In the words of Secretary General Rutte, this format will not merely be an exhibition, but will feature official signing sessions where massive contracts, Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs), and Letters of Intent (LoIs) -the negotiations of which have already been finalized- will be signed in the presence of leaders.

NATO is organizing the largest industrial participation in its history to boost transatlantic defence production capacity and increase allies' defence spending. The forum will bring together the defence ministers and procurement chiefs of the 32 allied nations, alongside the CEOs and top executives of global defence giants such as Lockheed Martin, RTX, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, Rheinmetall, Leonardo, Aselsan, Baykar and Thales. The main focus of the summit format will be "Ramping Up Defence Production and Joint Procurement". Rather than nations manufacturing weapons in isolation, the objective is for international corporations to form consortia to standardize ammunition production and provide long-term military equipment support to Ukraine.

For Türkiye, this summit atmosphere offers an ideal platform to sign critical agreements for its own urgent and strategic military requirements, issue letters of intent, or take diplomatic steps to resolve ongoing procurement hurdles. As Turkiye rapidly develops its own national air defense umbrella, the "Steel Dome" project, the integration of this system into the NATO architecture, its interoperability with allied systems, and the establishment of the technical infrastructure to facilitate its export to allied countries are likely to be among the topics discussed at the summit.

On the other hand, NATO Secretary General Rutte’s clear declaration that "we must cut the red tape in Washington" is an acknowledgement from the highest authority that bureaucratic obstacles and congressional restrictions, which slow down military procurement processes among allies, damage the alliance's collective security. The Ankara Summit has the potential to translate these statements into concrete actions and free trade.

Türkiye will not participate in this summit merely as a "buyer/taker". Due to the ammunition and explosives shortage experienced across the Western world, allies require Türkiye's high production capacity. Türkiye is expected to sign multi-national production partnerships to plug the shortfall in artillery shells, rocket motors, and explosive raw materials. Ankara plans to bring these sales to the table as an "offset" mechanism for procurement of the high-tech products it requires. In this context, a new acceleration in Türkiye-Germany defence relations is highly probable.

Within this new alignment strategy, Türkiye will begin to bring its proven defence framework and production capacity into deep integration with European and NATO systems. Such a comprehensive structural integration of the Turkish defence industry into the alliance's technical and operational infrastructure will generate entirely new strategic perspectives within the alliance over the medium and long term. By combining its military geography, human resources, and industrial strength through these structural collaborations, Ankara will anchor its indispensable and central position within the alliance's joint defence architecture on a much more profound foundation. This summit is of historical importance, above all because of its potential to be a milestone in a significant paradigm shift within NATO.

I'd say this is bordering on absurdity, but pretty big claim if true. BlackRock already owns more than 1% of Aselsan's public shares.

@Yasar_TR @TR_123456 @Bogeyman @Sanchez @Ripley @Anastasius @Zafer @Anmdt @dBSPL @Ryder


Fatih Altaylı: (On ASELSAN) “According to what Oda TV wrote, the giant American fund called BlackRock is supposedly after a company in Turkey. Through the mediation of Tom Barrack—the U.S. Ambassador to Ankara, businessman, and banker—BlackRock, which wants to acquire a public giant from Turkey, has its sights set on Aselsan, the apple of the eye and also a giant of the Turkish defense industry. I see the possibility of Aselsan—Turkey's largest defense industry company, which also holds a considerable place and share in the global defense industry—being sold to a foreigner, especially an American company, as less than zero. It's the world's 43rd largest defense industry company, and in Turkey, we don't have any company that has reached this ranking not just in the strategic sector of defense industry, but in other fields either. In other words, both its importance and value are immense. It's the 50-year accumulation of the country, of our people. I hope this backchannel information from Oda TV is not true. Even if it is true, I hope such a sale does not take place.”

Aselsan is number 12 in the defence contractors sector public companies and has the potential to become number 5 doubling its value. A company only needs extra capital if they want to make a big jump but does not have the money to do that. In the current situation I don't see Aselsan needing a big sum of money (I haven't looked at its fundamentals actually). The only reason I can see for Aselsan to need foreign investment is if they want to start a microelectronics fab in Türkiye using ASML eUV lithography machines. This would be a big jump warranting an investment in the order of $5+bn. In which case Türkiye can benefit a lot and become 93+% self reliant in defence sector and probably including civilian sector. This move needs to be supported by foreign political endorsement as it is not a move which is purely economical. In any case Aselsan stays a Turkish controlled company only making profits to foreign investors in a minority part.

Mis_TR_Like said:

I'd say this is bordering on absurdity, but pretty big claim if true. BlackRock already owns more than 1% of Aselsan's public shares.

@Yasar_TR @TR_123456 @Bogeyman @Sanchez @Ripley @Anastasius @Zafer @Anmdt @dBSPL @Ryder


Fatih Altaylı: (On ASELSAN) “According to what Oda TV wrote, the giant American fund called BlackRock is supposedly after a company in Turkey. Through the mediation of Tom Barrack—the U.S. Ambassador to Ankara, businessman, and banker—BlackRock, which wants to acquire a public giant from Turkey, has its sights set on Aselsan, the apple of the eye and also a giant of the Turkish defense industry. I see the possibility of Aselsan—Turkey's largest defense industry company, which also holds a considerable place and share in the global defense industry—being sold to a foreigner, especially an American company, as less than zero. It's the world's 43rd largest defense industry company, and in Turkey, we don't have any company that has reached this ranking not just in the strategic sector of defense industry, but in other fields either. In other words, both its importance and value are immense. It's the 50-year accumulation of the country, of our people. I hope this backchannel information from Oda TV is not true. Even if it is true, I hope such a sale does not take place.”

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2071228576838627666

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Private equity firms kill everything they touch. Everything. There isn't a single bloody company that have been acquired by one and did well in the long run, they are all stripped of their assets for short term gain and when the private equity firm drains them of anything of value like, a vampire, they are sold. Even a minority share should be considered high treason for anyone who approves it, Aselsan is the single most critical company we have for our military.

boredaf said:

Private equity firms kill everything they touch. Everything. There isn't a single bloody company that have been acquired by one and did well in the long run, they are all stripped of their assets for short term gain and when the private equity firm drains them of anything of value like, a vampire, they are sold. Even a minority share should be considered high treason for anyone who approves it, Aselsan is the single most critical company we have for our military.

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Blackrock’s co-founder and CEO , Larry Fink is Jewish.
BlackRock has operated in Israel since 2016 and maintains significant investments across the region.
Fink has spoken out against bigotry and hatred. Following the events of October 7, 2023, he publicly supported Israel's right to defend itself and stated that BlackRock would scrutinize the background of prospective employees for support of what he termed "hatred"

Recently, in March 2026 BlackRock CEO Larry Fink held a high-level, closed-door meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Dolmabahce Palace Istanbul to discuss global investment trends, energy infrastructure, and economic cooperation. The meeting signaled growing institutional confidence in Turkye’s emerging market and its strategic positioning.

Turkiye is cash strapped, and need to attract foreign capital is a primary driver behind its increased engagement with BlackRock. Following years of currency volatility and inflation, the country has shifted to more conventional economic policies under Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek to restore global investor confidence. This push to draw institutional capital involves high-level strategic outreach rather than a financial bailout.
Turkiye has rolled out major investor tax reforms. Incentives like 20 years of zero tax on foreign income and slashed corporate tax rates for exporters aim to repatriate offshore capital and attract new foreign residents.
After the above mentioned meeting, BlackRock’s Frontiers Investment Trust Plc (which previously held near-zero exposure to Turkiye) boosted its Turkish equity allocation to approximately 10% of its total portfolio, making Turkey its third-largest market position after Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The fund managers are betting on slowing inflation and steady interest rate cuts. Their specific equity holdings feature major financials and large-cap companies, with prominent positions in lender Akbank and hospital chains.
BlackRock has also quietly increased its holdings in traded Turkish government and corporate bonds. Institutional interest has been driven by extraordinarily high yields, providing strategic real yield management despite the broader challenges in the Turkish economy.

When international asset management giants like BlackRock appear on the shareholder registries of critical defense contractors, it frequently triggers concerns about foreign subversion. However, a look at the financial architecture proves that BlackRock’s presence is entirely superficial.

• The Size of the Stake: BlackRock holds no strategic, active, or blocking stake in Aselsan. Its position is purely passive and microscopic, generally fluctuating between 0.2% and 0.5% based on algorithmic index rebalancing.
• How it Happens: Aselsan is a publicly traded entity on the Borsa Istanbul (Ticker: ASELS). Roughly 25.8% of the company is traded on the open market as free float. When BlackRock creates global emerging-market ETFs or thematic tech funds, its algorithms automatically purchase a basket of the country’s top-performing blue-chip stocks. Aselsan is bought simply because it is a highly profitable tech asset, not to gain geopolitical leverage.
• Zero Operational Control: BlackRock has no seats on the board of directors, no voting blocks capable of altering corporate policy, and zero input into secret military tenders.

The Iron Wall: Protecting Core Defense Intellectual Property (IP)​

To ensure that international investors remain nothing more than silent passengers on the gravy train, the state has built a multi-layered legal and institutional fortress around its defense sector.

The Foundation: The TSKGV Supermajority​

The ultimate defense mechanism is Aselsan’s ownership core. A massive 74.2% of the company is owned by the TSKGV (Turkish Armed Forces Foundation). The TSKGV is a state-controlled entity whose board consists entirely of top-tier officials from the Ministry of National Defense (MSB) and the SSB. Because the foundation holds an absolute supermajority, it dictates every board appointment and strategic decision. Even if an adversarial foreign entity bought out the entire 25.8% free float on the stock market, they would possess exactly zero voting power to shift the company's trajectory.

Statutory Protection: Law No. 5202​

Under Law No. 5202 on Defense Industry Security (Savunma Sanayii Güvenliği Kanunu), open-market shareholders are treated like any other civilian entity:

• They are legally barred from entering research laboratories, testing grounds, or production lines.
• They have no legal right to view classified project files or technical specifications.
• Every single executive, scientist, and engineer working on core projects must hold a top-secret security clearance (Güvenlik Belgesi) issued by the Ministry of Defense and vetted by the National Intelligence Organization (MİT).

Silo Architecture for Core Technology​

Highly sensitive "Milli" (National) projects—such as the MURAD AESA radar algorithms, BÜRFİS electronic warfare suites, or advanced Gallium Nitride (GaN) semiconductor manufacturing—are digitally and physically isolated from the commercial side of the company.

According to SSB regulations, transferring, licensing, or selling core defense IP to a foreign entity without explicit, written presidential decree is impossible. Any unauthorized leak of source codes or technical documentation is prosecuted not as a corporate infraction, but as high treason and espionage.

To avoid any misunderstanding: the state has several safeguards in place.

IC3M@N FX said:

To avoid any misunderstanding: the state has several safeguards in place.

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Do safeguards matter when the government is known to break the law openly? All trust has been eroded

I don’t know what you’re getting at – 82–83% self-sufficiency in defence by June 2026 is anything but a sell-off of capabilities.
It’s by no means a given that you can go from18–20% to 82–83% in 15-20 Years. To achieve that, you need a great deal of political and strategic staying power.
There are many things one can criticise the current government for, such as its botched interest rate policy or certain moves in foreign and domestic policy. But if there’s one thing the AKP has achieved, it is that Turkey has become more independent in terms of its foreign policy capabilities and possesses the strategic and political will to create a self-sustaining military-industrial complex.


Do you even realise what’s being built here?
We’re building a Turkish Pentagon where the entire military command – including the Air Force, Navy and Army – is concentrated in a single complex that also houses part of the defence industry, along with institutions such as TÜBİTAK and MSB AR-GE, as well as liaison offices for the Defence and Civilian industries.
Do you know just how strongly Germany and north-western Europe react to this and not in a positive way! They see it as a self-sustaining foundation – which means that every party, even a Kurdish or left-liberal party, must bow to this system, however unlikely it may be that they will come to power, just as in the US, where the Republicans and Democrats must be guided strategically and in foreign policy by the Pentagon and its think tanks. We are talking here about ‘Devlet akli’.

If it is so easy, if it is so simple to do all these things – against a backdrop of external political and economic pressure from the US, Israel and the EU, and to some extent from Russia and China, all of whom regard the country merely as a weak link in their hemisphere – then you really ought to give some thought to what was achieved between 1950 and 2006, and between 2006 and 2026, in terms of industrial, economic and military infrastructure.
There are Galaxies between them – I’m telling you: Galaxies!

I really do respect your opinion, and yes, the AKP has reached its zenith with Erdogan; he should step down by 2030/32 at the latest so that a new strategic era can begin, but as far as I’m concerned, his work is not yet done.

The system he has created is so deeply entrenched that every subsequent government must adopt it as a strategic legacy, whether it wants to or not. The military-industrial complex will shape a large part of Turkish foreign policy, as it should.

IC3M@N FX said:

I don’t know what you’re getting at – 82–83% self-sufficiency in defence by June 2026 is anything but a sell-off of capabilities.
It’s by no means a given that you can go from18–20% to 82–83% in 15-20 Years. To achieve that, you need a great deal of political and strategic staying power.
There are many things one can criticise the current government for, such as its botched interest rate policy or certain moves in foreign and domestic policy. But if there’s one thing the AKP has achieved, it is that Turkey has become more independent in terms of its foreign policy capabilities and possesses the strategic and political will to create a self-sustaining military-industrial complex.

View attachment 81178
Do you even realise what’s being built here?
We’re building a Turkish Pentagon where the entire military command – including the Air Force, Navy and Army – is concentrated in a single complex that also houses part of the defence industry, along with institutions such as TÜBİTAK and MSB AR-GE, as well as liaison offices for the Defence and Civilian industries.
Do you know just how strongly Germany and north-western Europe react to this and not in a positive way! They see it as a self-sustaining foundation – which means that every party, even a Kurdish or left-liberal party, must bow to this system, however unlikely it may be that they will come to power, just as in the US, where the Republicans and Democrats must be guided strategically and in foreign policy by the Pentagon and its think tanks. We are talking here about ‘Devlet akli’.

If it is so easy, if it is so simple to do all these things – against a backdrop of external political and economic pressure from the US, Israel and the EU, and to some extent from Russia and China, all of whom regard the country merely as a weak link in their hemisphere – then you really ought to give some thought to what was achieved between 1950 and 2006, and between 2006 and 2026, in terms of industrial, economic and military infrastructure.
There are Galaxies between them – I’m telling you: Galaxies!

I really do respect your opinion, and yes, the AKP has reached its zenith with Erdogan; he should step down by 2030/32 at the latest so that a new strategic era can begin, but as far as I’m concerned, his work is not yet done.

The system he has created is so deeply entrenched that every subsequent government must adopt it as a strategic legacy, whether it wants to or not. The military-industrial complex will shape a large part of Turkish foreign policy, as it should.

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He is pointing out that the government and the stupidity of a certain someone raped our nations economy and we're in this situation because of how his political party and bigotry has hallowed out the trust.

People will do what is necessary to get by, but they will hold on to their values and diversify and possible avoid paying tax if they can. In the end it'll hurt the economy and the government who doesn't have any incentive to make people spend more money will look for foreign investors, like blackrock, and they will even sell graveyards to make room for nice condos to try to get more money into the country.

Saithan said:

He is pointing out that the government and the stupidity of a certain someone raped our nations economy and we're in this situation because of how his political party and bigotry has hallowed out the trust.

People will do what is necessary to get by, but they will hold on to their values and diversify and possible avoid paying tax if they can. In the end it'll hurt the economy and the government who doesn't have any incentive to make people spend more money will look for foreign investors, like blackrock, and they will even sell graveyards to make room for nice condos to try to get more money into the country.

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I know what you mean, but I don’t think that’s the whole truth. Yes, the government has made economic mistakes – what on earth prompted it to pursue this interest rate policy and the resulting inflation? I assume the aim was to attract foreign capital and investment through favourable interest rates, which was partly successful, but which naturally fuelled inflation due to external economic pressure from credit ratings and embargoes; they pulled the emergency brake too late – there’s no excuse for that.

I’ve been in Turkey for a week and am on holiday with my family in Antalya. We have a house there in Muratpaşa/Güzeloba, but I’ve also been observing the lifestyle of some people here, which isn’t in keeping with their financial means – in other words, they lead a high-society lifestyle where the salary in their bank account doesn’t match their lifestyle. And that’s not the exception, but in some cases the rule. I’m not saying I don’t earn enough, but when I see how many people go out for meals and drinks – not just once or twice a week, but three times, sometimes even four times a week – I really do wonder what they’re complaining about.
If I have to be careful to make ends meet and not overspend on holiday – meaning I can’t go out for a meal with my family every day – then why are these people, with 3–5 credit cards that cover each other, able to lead such a lifestyle simply because they think it’s great and want to?
And those who complain about their financial situation, saying that everything has become more expensive and is now unaffordable
I’m not saying it’s like that everywhere in Turkey, and yes, there are more than enough people in Turkey who sometimes have two or three jobs and still can barely make ends meet – that, too, is a bitter reality. But when I see myself sitting in a restaurant with my family having a meal, and across from us two women and two men eating together, who then get the bill, don’t have enough money and say to the waiter, ‘idare et’, whereupon the waiter protests – then I have absolutely no sympathy for them. If I’ve got no money in my pocket, I simply don’t go out – end of story. There’s no discussion about it, whether I’m in Germany or in Turkey. Even worse: they send our Kapici to the ends of the World to do the shopping, and he writes in the WhatsApp group: ‘Abla, this costs more than you gave me – what am I supposed to do now?’, to which the reply is something like: ‘You pay the difference’, along the lines of: be glad you’ve got the job. This isn’t a problem with the government, but a problem of mentality amongst the population – and that won’t change even if Party XY comes to power.
I’m sorry, but that sort of thing is cringe-worthy.

The same applies to people who come from Germany, live on social security there, have scraped together the money for a holiday, and refuse to work by lying and cheating and acting like big shots in Turkey – that, too, is a bitter reality and a reason to feel ashamed on their behalf.

Sry for Off-Topic

Remember when government forced banks to lend money disregarding proper evaluation of each persons chance of paying it back. Pure consumer, debt driven lifestyle has been promoted with government blessing, which lead to RTE begging Yildirim to come back.

Simsek

Defense exports reached 4.6+ billion for the first 6 months of the year. We will likely pass 9 billion and will have a shot at passing 10 billion
Our defense industry is increasingly becoming self-sufficient through exports.

January: $554.345 million
February: $552.707 million
March: $801.486 million
April: $962.332 million
May: $992.062 million
June: $802.810 million

Maybe passing $ 11 billion

$10.054 bn was last year, 29.5% increase so far, $13.300 bn possible this year.

Rutte said tens of billions worth of new contracts will be announced tomorrow. Do you think we need a thread for the summit? It's kind of a defence fair.

Turkic said:

Rutte said tens of billions worth of new contracts will be announced tomorrow. Do you think we need a thread for the summit? It's kind of a defence fair.

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Some of these agreements will be about supporting Ukraine. But I agree, though. We could have had a separate thread about the NATO summit.