Turkey’s defense and aerospace industry has recorded its strongest export performance to date, reaching $7.4 billion in the first 11 months of the year, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported, citing official figures.
Data released Thursday showed that exports between January and November rose 30 percent from the same period last year, already surpassing Turkey’s previous annual highs with one month still left in 2025.
The jump reflects sustained investment in weapons manufacturing, drones and aerospace technologies, areas that Ankara has increasingly promoted as symbols of national self-reliance and strategic leverage.
Haluk Görgün, head of the Presidency of the Defense Industry (SSB), announced the figures in a post on his X account on Thursday, describing the gains as a “historic record” for the sector.
🔔 Türkiye, savunma ve havacılık ihracatında tarihi REKOR. 🚀
Türkiye, savunma ve havacılık ihracatında yükselişini kararlılıkla sürdürüyor; her ay yeni bir başarı hikâyesi yazıyoruz.
📈 Ocak–Kasım dönemi toplam ihracatımız, geçen yılın aynı dönemindeki 5,733 milyar dolar… pic.twitter.com/WNZneQHy33
— Prof. Dr. Haluk Görgün (@halukgorgun) December 4, 2025
“Turkey is steadfastly continuing its upward trajectory in defense and aerospace exports; every month, we’re writing a new success story,” he wrote.
Exports in November alone reached $747 million, up 22 percent from the same month of 2024.
The momentum is driven in part by growing international demand for Turkish-made drones and armored vehicles, which have been sold to countries across the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia in addition to some European countries.
Drones developed by Turkey’s leading drone manufacturer Baykar have been exported to some 35 countries and have been used in conflicts in Azerbaijan and Libya in addition to Ukraine.
Baykar is co-owned by Selçuk Bayraktar, the son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Many say the company owes its success to Erdoğan, who personally promotes Baykar drones during his visits to foreign countries, as a result of which agreements worth of millions of dollars are signed.
Baykar’s low-cost, combat-tested Bayraktar TB2 drones gained global attention after being deployed in Ukraine and Nagorno-Karabakh. Several European Union members, including Poland, Romania and Croatia, have since purchased them.
Görgün said the 11-month total had already exceeded all previous full-year figures, claiming it showed the industry’s strengthening footprint in global markets.
The performance, he added, reflects rising production of high value-added systems and expanding partnerships with foreign buyers.
The surge comes as Erdoğan continues to position Turkey as a regional defense hub, seeking to reduce reliance on Western suppliers while using defense exports as both an economic engine and an instrument of diplomacy.
Turkey’s defense industry has grown rapidly in the past decade, with five Turkish companies — Baykar, Aselsan, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) Roketsan and Machinery and Chemical Industry (MKE) — ranked among the world’s top 100 defense companies.
According to a report released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the combined revenue of the five defense contractors reached $10.1 billion in 2024, an 11 percent increase from the previous year.
Baykar generated 90 percent of its revenue from exports in 2024, achieving $1.8 billion in export sales.