Turkish Aerospace Industries

Turkish Aerospace Industries

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAŞ) is a state-controlled aircraft manufacturer headquartered at Kahramankazan, outside Ankara. It builds combat aircraft, jet trainers, helicopters, unmanned aircraft and aerostructures for the Turkish armed forces and a growing export list. The company was incorporated in its current form in 1984 around F-16 co-production with Lockheed Martin and General Electric, and its scale since has come from state programme awards rather than acquisition. Wikipedia’s figure of roughly 17,000 employees dates to January 2024. TUSAŞ should not be confused with Baykar: Baykar is privately held and sells attritable UAVs on price, while TUSAŞ is a state-owned prime pursuing high-end crewed platforms with co-production as the sales lever.

Key Products

KAAN — a twin-engine fifth-generation fighter, first flown in February 2024. Turkey’s procurement agency signed the first production contract, for 20 Block 10 aircraft, in May 2026. Indonesia converted a June 2025 framework agreement into a commercial contract for 48 aircraft in July 2026, with deliveries phased over about a decade.

Hürjet — a supersonic jet trainer and light attack aircraft. Spain signed for 30 aircraft on 28 December 2025 in a deal reported at €2.4 billion, replacing its F-5 fleet, with Airbus leading the wider Spanish training system and first deliveries expected from 2028.

Anka, Aksungur and Anka-3 — the MALE UAV line, its heavier twin-engine derivative, and a jet-powered flying-wing UCAV intended for loyal-wingman work.

Gökbey (T625) and T929 ATAK 2 — a utility helicopter, contracted in a 57-aircraft production batch with deliveries from 2028, and a heavy attack helicopter still in development.

Business and Financial Position

TUSAŞ is owned by the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation (54.49%), the Presidency of Defence Industries (45.45%) and the Turkish Aeronautical Association (0.06%). It is not listed and publishes little directly; the most usable outside figure is Defense News, whose Top 100 published in September 2026 put TUSAŞ 48th with 2025 defense revenue of $3.65 billion, up about 16% from $3.15 billion in 2024. Chief executive Mehmet Demiroğlu had earlier set a $4.3 billion revenue target for 2025 and $12 billion by 2034, backed by a stated plan to deliver 1,500 air platforms over the decade. Those are targets, and the 2025 outcome fell short of the first of them.

Why It Matters

TUSAŞ is the institutional core of Turkey’s attempt to build a self-sufficient combat aircraft industry, and the export book it assembled across 2025 and 2026 — Spain for Hürjet, Indonesia for KAAN — is real evidence that the strategy sells. The unresolved problem is propulsion. KAAN flies on GE F110 engines, and Demiroğlu said in July 2026 that the US export licence cleared Congress on 9 July, with 10 engines held for prototypes and 80 ordered for series production. The domestic TF35000 is not expected until around 2032, which leaves Turkey’s sovereign fighter dependent on an American supply chain and a Washington political decision for most of the coming decade. Delivery risk is the second issue: almost everything TUSAŞ has sold falls due from 2028 onward, and it has not yet demonstrated series production at that rate.