Defense industry’s exports hit all-time high of $7.1 billion

ISTANBUL

Exports of the Turkish defense and aerospace industry climbed to an all-time high of $7.1 billion in 2024, rising by 29 percent compared to the previous year, says Haluk Görgün, head of the Turkish Defense Industries Secretariat (SSB).

"Thanks to our international cooperation activities and contacts, our companies have become able to export not to a certain region but to almost the entire world,” Görgün wrote on X, noting that the local defense industry exports products to 180 countries.

Buoyed by NATO deals and services exports, the defense and aerospace industry’s export revenue last year was 11 percent above “our 2024 target of $6.5 billion,” Görgün said.

“In 2025, we will continue to work to enhance the export of high value-added products,” he added.

In December alone, the defense and aerospace industry generated $997 million in export revenues, marking a robust 38.8 percent increase from the same month of the previous year, showed the data from the Türkiye Exporters’ Assembly (TİM).

Drone maker Baykar, ASELSAN and TUSAŞ are the leading Turkish defense exporting companies.

They are among the world’s top 100 arms-producing and military services companies, according to a report unveiled in December by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

The defense and aerospace industry’s exports have surged over the last two decades as the country set the aim of reducing its dependency on foreign countries and becoming a major player in the global defense market.

Exports of the industry stood at only $248 million in 2002, passing the $1 billion mark for the first time in 2011.

In 2018, defense exports exceeded $2 billion in 2018.

The number of projects carried out by local defense companies increased from 62 in 2002 to more than 1,000 last year.