“I’m really pleased to announce that eight allies are launching a project to explore the development of a mega-constellation called HALO, opening a new chapter in allied space operations,” said Radmila Šekerinska, the NATO deputy secretary-general.

HALO — Hybrid Alliance Layered Operations in Space — will focus on improving connectivity and integration of sovereign, nationally owned and controlled military satellites into a networked constellation.

Denmark, Canada, Finland, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and Turkey are part of the effort. It aims to improve alliance resilience and military advantage in space, enabling high-speed communications, intelligence and missile tracking.

Individual satellite constellations run independently by member countries are vulnerable to cyberattacks, jamming or physical destruction, while also being too slow to relay large amounts of data, Šekerinska said.

“So this new model will be particularly helpful for high-speed communications, intelligence and missile tracking, overcoming the cost, the time and coverage limitations of single-nation satellite fleets,” she added.

Meanwhile, at the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum, several nations declared their contributions to the space domain. Canada became the 15th member of NATO’s STARLIFT multinational initiative, which explores ways to develop a network of launch capabilities that will help allies launch assets on short notice from spaceports across the alliance.

Spain became the 19th country to join NATO’s Alliance Persistent Surveillance from Space initiative. Madrid will contribute by increasing coastal surveillance through imagery from its “Atlantic Constellation” satellites.

Turkey announced plans for the development of two additional high-resolution satellites to complement space capabilities in the region.

Built by Northrop Grumman, the MQ-4C Triton is a high-altitude, long-endurance UAV specifically designed for maritime surveillance over vast stretches of sea.

According to Rutte, the aircraft will help NATO detect threats early, protect sea lines of communication, and support operations in demanding regions, such as the High North. “These aircraft can fly for long periods at high altitude and cover large areas, including over open water, more efficiently than most other aircraft can,” he said at the event, organized to coincide with the NATO summit this week.

Rutte stressed that intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) is a vital capability for the alliance, as it provides the situational awareness needed to make the right decisions and stay ahead of threats. “Today, allies are taking a concrete step to strengthen this capability,” he added.

Rutte said Northrop Grumman will build the Triton aircraft, while European industry will be work on mission support, data systems and infrastructure. “It is genuinely made in NATO and is creating jobs on both sides of the Atlantic,” he said.

The MQ-4C Triton is capable of operating at altitudes above 50,000 feet for 24-plus hours, with a range of 7,400 nautical miles, according to the manufacturer. Current users of the Triton are the U.S. Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force.

Speaking last month in Brussels, Güler described the 7–8 July gathering as a critical turning point where NATO will demonstrate its determination to adapt to the changing security environment and where its future strategic direction will be shaped.

Given the volatile security landscape in Europe, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in its fifth year, and war in the Middle East, Turkey’s leaders see the country’s strategic relevance for NATO on the rise.

The summit in Ankara comes at a moment when the alliance is reassessing its strategic identity amid shifting U.S. priorities in Europe, an evolving Russian threat environment, and increasing demands on European defense capabilities.

“With its strong military, advanced defense industry, effective diplomacy and strategic vision, Turkey will continue to be a key actor in NATO, Euro‑Atlantic security and regional stability,” Güler said.

Ankara acknowledges that the United States’ military restructuring in Europe requires European Allies to increase their investment and fill the gaps.

For Güler, Turkey’s growing defense sector is one of the assets to showcase at this year’s summit.

“We believe that the Defence Industry Forum, which will be held as part of the NATO Summit in Ankara, will make an important contribution to enhancing defense industrial cooperation among allies,” Güler said.

Serhat Süha Çubukçuoğlu, a senior fellow at the Abu Dhabi‑based TRENDS Research and Advisory consultancy, said the development of the Turkish defense industry increases Turkey’s weight within NATO.

However, this newfound clout risks running into political obstacles inherent in NATO’s relationship with the European Union, he said.

“With the vacuum created by increasingly isolationist U.S. policies, NATO is gradually taking on a more distinctly European character. As illustrated by Turkey’s effective exclusion from the SAFE program despite being a NATO ally, the obstacles created by Greek and Cypriot vetoes clearly demonstrate this reality,” Çubukçuoğlu said.

Megan Elizabeth Gisclon, managing editor and researcher at the Istanbul Policy Center, said the size of Turkey’s military and the government’s diplomatic ties with Middle Eastern nations as well as Russia make for a well rounded contribution to NATO.

The corvette ROS Contraamiral August Roman was originally constructed for the Turkish Naval Forces as offshore patrol vessel Akhisar, at the Istanbul Naval Shipyard operated by defense company Asfat. Romania purchased the ship under a government-to-government contract signed in December 2025, worth €223 million ($254 million) excluding VAT.

The transfer marks the first delivery of a Turkish-built warship to a European Union and NATO member state, underscoring Turkey’s growing naval exports.

In its current configuration, the ship has a 76mm main gun, two 12.7mm machine guns, navigation and combat management systems, a 3D surveillance radar, a fire-control radar integrated with an electro-optical sensor, electronic warfare systems, a keel-mounted sonar, and an integrated communications suite.

The Romanian Naval Forces stated the vessel can perform surveillance, reconnaissance, maritime patrol, interdiction, search and rescue, anti-air and anti-submarine warfare operations, while supporting helicopter operations.

Bucharest plans a follow-on procurement package worth €42 million in the second half of 2026 to achieve full operational capability. The package is expected to include a vertical launching system for air-defense missiles, a 35mm close-in weapon system, rocket-propelled depth charges, and additional electro-optical and infrared tracking sensors. Romania also intends to equip the ship with NSM anti-ship missiles under the EU’s SAFE (Security Action for Europe) program.

Last week’s delivery comes in the context of growing defense cooperation between Turkey and Romania. During a June 20 ceremony, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described the delivery as a reflection of the strategic partnership between Turkey and Romania, saying that “Black Sea security is an inseparable part of the Euro-Atlantic security architecture.”

Romanian President Nicușor Dan said the two countries discussed wider industrial cooperation, including Turkish investment in Romania’s defense sector and expanded cooperation in protecting critical underwater infrastructure in the Black Sea.

The live-fire phase of EFES-2026 ran through May 21 along the Aegean coast near İzmir, making it one of Turkey’s largest combined and joint exercises to date. Conducted under the Aegean Army Command, the drill spanned two phases — a computer-assisted command post phase in April and the live-fire field phase — drawing over 10,000 personnel from 50 nations to the İzmir Gulf and Doğanbey training ranges.

The Libyan participation carries particular symbolic weight. A total of 502 Libyan troops — 331 from the country’s eastern forces and 171 from the west — are training side by side under a single Libyan flag. It is the first time the two rival factions have jointly deployed abroad.

Turkish defense officials described the event as a concrete step toward Ankara’s long-stated “One Libya, One Army” goal. Libyan personnel have received training in amphibious operations, special forces tactics, combat diving, mine and IED awareness, and combat search and rescue.

Besides the land forces, the Libyan Combattante II G class patrol craft Shafak also participated in the naval phase of the exercise.

Syria’s participation is smaller but arguably more important diplomatically. Approximately 50 Syrian military personnel took part, making the newly reconstituted Syrian army’s first-ever exercise outside Syrian territory.

Ankara framed both nations’ attendance as part of its broader military-restructuring and advisory programs in each country, with officials saying that training and advisory cooperation with both nations will continue and expand.

The decision to procure the systems was made during the February meeting of the Defense Industry Executive Committee, the highest decision-making body in Turkey’s defense procurement and industrial policy.

The Secretariat of Defense Industries (SSB) is overseeing the procurement project. The 100 expendable unmanned surface systems will be produced by three different companies.

One of the three providers is Aselsan, which has teamed up with Ares Shipyard. They unveiled their joint product, Tufan, during SAHA Expo 2026 in Istanbul.

The second provider is STM, which is cooperating with Yonca Shipyard. Their expendable USV, Yaktu, was also unveiled during the trade show.

The third producer is Havelsan, which is working with Sefine Shipyard.

The 100 units are divided as 40 for Aselsan, 32 for STM, and 32 for Havelsan, meaning the overall authorized amount will need to be adjusted slightly to accommodate an operational doctrine that envisions four-drone swarms.

Aselsan’s Tufan unmanned surface vehicle is designed to conduct strike missions against maritime and coastal targets. The vessel is 8 meters long and 1.8 meters wide and carries a high-explosive payload equivalent to one Mk 82 bomb.

STM’s Yaktu USV was developed to meet asymmetric maritime operational requirements, ranging from port protection to open-sea strike missions. It has an overall length of 5.8 meters and a displacement of 1.7 tons.

Both Tufan and Yaktu are configured as expendable, precision-strike unmanned surface platforms designed for engagements against surface targets. They feature compact, low-profile hulls to reduce radar and visual detectability. Both systems support line-of-sight (LOS) and satellite communications, enabling integration into network-centric operations.

Their swarm architecture allows multiple units to operate cooperatively, share data in real time, and autonomously allocate tasks during missions.

In an interview with Defence News during the show, Aselsan CEO Ahmet Akyol described the company’s latest launches as part of a broader shift toward networked, high-volume and cost-effective systems designed for modern attritional warfare.

In the maritime domain, this strategy manifested itself in the form of two autonomous naval strike systems designed around swarming operations, low observability and high-volume production.

One of them was the Tufan Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV), a fast-moving, autonomous platform for both offensive operations and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) tasks. Akyol described Tufan as Aselsan’s new-generation surface kamikaze vehicle. “It builds on our experience with platforms like Marlin and Albatros [USVs],” he said.

The second systems was the Kılıç family of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). Akyol described them as “kamikaze UUVs,” stating that when creating an entirely new operational concept, the terminology also evolves with it.

Akyol said the Kılıç UUVs currently come in two variants, Kılıç 10 and Kılıç 200, designed for long-range and low-signature operations. The swarm-capable systems carry warheads with lightweight torpedo-class punch, and they can operate autonomously or via satellite link. “Kılıç is quite difficult to defend against,” Akyol said.

The company also used Saha Expo to highlight the defensive side of modern networked warfare through a layered mix of air defense, electronic warfare and counter-drone systems. The company presented the systems as part of Turkey’s evolving “Steel Dome” air defense architecture.

“For the electronic warfare layer of Steel Dome, we are launching Koral AD — a completely new product,” Akyol said.

Koral is Aselsan’s main EW systems designed to render enemy radars ineffective. The Koral AD is a long-range radar electronic attack system intended to detect, deceive and jam enemy aircraft radars. The company also launched a new version of the Ilgar electronic warfare system, designed to disrupt communications between combat aircraft and ground control stations.

“It makes it very difficult for enemy aircraft to execute an attack on you — blinding enemy radars or saturating them with false targets, and also capable of jamming the guidance heads of incoming anti-radiation missiles” said Akyol.

Aselsan also revealed new products designed to expand the offensive reach of Turkish unmanned combat aircraft through a new set of integrated sensors, radars and precision-guided munitions.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and recent conflicts in the Red Sea and the Middle East have highlighted the importance of producing precision-strike systems rapidly and in large quantities.

Akyol said said many of the systems unveiled at Saha Expo 2026 were designed around a commercial-component philosophy rather than a traditional boutique defence industry approach.

“Everything we have talked about today could realistically be in inventory by 2027,” he said.

The company has set a target of raising exports to 40% of total revenues by 2030, up from 25% today and 11% when the ASELSAN Next program launched in 2024.

Speaking to Defense News during his first visit to Turkey, Fuhr described Ankara as a “trusted partner” and “valuable ally,” highlighting Turkish advances in drones, counter-drone systems, ammunition production and autonomous technologies as potential areas for future cooperation.

“The middle powers have to come together in a way they didn’t before,” said Fuhr, reflecting the Canadian political drive to establish new cooperation between the middle powers, as the United States steps back from its traditional role in the world.

“Individually we’re just not big enough, but collectively we are,” Fuhr said.

Alliances between middle powers are not always smooth. Between 2019 and January 2024, Canada imposed restrictions on arms sales to Turkey and cancelled a number of export permits, creating a de-facto weapons embargo. When asked about whether the embargo was politically worth it, Fuhr stressed that he was elected in 2025 and stated that Canada is focused on the future.

Fuhr noted that during his meetings in Turkey, officials on both sides had prioritized practical collaboration and strategic alignment instead of revisiting earlier disputes.

“Nobody’s raised any past information or anything that’s happened in the past,” he said. “Everyone is focused on responding to the moment and how we can work together moving forward.”

The Canadian official also pointed to upcoming high-level political engagement between the two countries, including planned visits by Prime Minister Mark Carney and current discussions surrounding a possible free trade agreement.

Ottawa does not have the luxury of wasting time to accelerate defense production and procurement. Central to Canada’s ambition to expand its defense industrial capacity is the newly accepted Defence Industrial Strategy and the creation of a new Defence Investment Agency.

“Our strategy is build, partner, buy,” Fuhr said. “If it’s urgent, we’ll probably have to go and buy it. If it’s something they can wait for, we’ll have to co-develop it.”

The minister stressed that Ottawa wants partnerships that help stimulate Canadian industry rather than relying solely on direct foreign procurement.

Fuhr said Turkey’s experience in developing an indigenous defense industrial base offered lessons for Ottawa, particularly in areas where Ankara has achieved rapid technological growth and supply-chain independence. He described Turkey as one of a small number of countries that have successfully developed a mature and largely independent defense industrial ecosystem, comparing Ankara’s progress to that of South Korea and France.

There are several sectors where Canada and Turkey could develop capabilities more rapidly. “Ammo production is one, drones, counter drones, those are pretty obvious places,” Fuhr said. He also suggested future cooperation could include co-development programs rather than simple off-the-shelf purchases, particularly in areas where Canada seeks faster capability growth without starting entirely from scratch.

Ottawa’s interest is not limited to procurement opportunities. Fuhr described Canada as a stable and reliable investment destination, highlighting the country’s financial system, investment climate and policies aimed at encouraging foreign direct investment.

The Canadian efforts in building a broader relationship with Turkey have already started to bear fruit. The Strategic and Unmanned Systems Research Center (SİSAM) of local Sefine Shipyard has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Canada-based Kraken Robotics during the Saha Expo 2026 here this month. As part of the agreement, Kraken will work with SİSAM to integrate the KATFISH towed synthetic aperture sonar system into its mission planning software and develop automatic target recognition capabilities.

“We have elevated our work to a more advanced level through the technology base we established two years ago within our Ministry of National Defense R&D Center,” Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Güler said during a press conference on Thursday.

“Our Yıldırımhan Long-Range Missile represents a significant technological milestone as Turkey’s first liquid-fueled rocket missile system, capable of hypersonic-speed flight and possessing the country’s longest range,” he added.

According to information provided by the MND, the Yıldırımhan missile uses unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine as fuel and dinitrogen tetroxide as the oxidizer. The ministry stated that the missile is capable of carrying a 3-ton warhead to a range of 6,000 kilometers.

The country has been working on hypersonic technologies and liquid-propellant propulsion systems for nearly a decade, the director-general of the Turkish Ministry of National Defence’s R&D Center, Nilüfer Kuzulu, told Turkish broadcaster NTV Türkiye.

Kuzulu stated that after initially producing small quantities of the propellants in laboratory conditions, the ministry eventually transitioned to serial production and integrated the technology into the Yıldırımhan missile program.

The development of the propellant technology represented a major technical challenge because the chemicals had not previously been produced domestically in Turkey.

“Developing this fuel is extremely difficult, and it was not something previously manufactured in Turkey,” she said. “What began as small-scale laboratory work years ago has now been transformed into serial production. We now have both the production capability and the associated production facility.”

MND sources said the Yıldırımhan Missile System has successfully completed laboratory testing and will enter field or ground testing in the coming period. Work on the field-testing campaign is continuing according to the planned schedule.

“As part of the National Technology Initiative, our Ministry will continue with determination to support the development of our defense industry, develop indigenous and national systems, and enhance Türkiye’s strategic deterrence capability,” the ministry stated.

The Turkish Efes-2026 exercise marks the second instance in a short period in which Libya’s rival factions have participated in the same multinational exercise, an indication of accelerating rapprochement between the two sides.

Coordinated by the Aegean Army Command, the exercise’s Computer-Assisted Command Post Phase, conducted between 11–17 April, included Distinguished Observer Day activities in Istanbul and Izmir. The live phase of the exercise is scheduled to take place here between April 20 and May 21.

“The fact that eastern and western Libyan elements have, for the first time, come together under the same exercise framework is being viewed as a critical milestone for the vision of a ‘single and unified Libya,’” reads a defense ministry statement.

The MND said 331 personnel from eastern Libya and 177 personnel from western Libya, along with the fast-attack craft Shafak, are participating in the Efes-2026 drill.

“This development marks an important step not only in military cooperation, but also in strengthening unity, cohesion and institutional alignment in Libya,” the Turkish MND said.

Turkey continues to pursue its approach to Libya under “One Army, One Libya,” supporting the country’s unity, cohesion, peace and stability across both its eastern and western regions.

Both Libyan factions recently took part in the Flintlock-2026 Multinational Special Forces Exercise, held in the city of Sirte, Libya, and the exercise was successfully completed. Flintlock is U.S. Africa Command’s premier multinational training event.

Held April 13-30 in Libya and Côte d’Ivoire, the this year’s iteration of the exercise saw participation from Turkey, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Chad, France, Italy, Libya, Hungary, Egypt and Tunisia.

In a statement, AFRICOM said that for the first time Libya was hosting an operating location with joint forces training alongside one another. These efforts are supported by a committee supporting Libyan joint forces efforts, known as the 3+3 Libyan Joint Military Committee.