ASELSAN has climbed to 40th place in the Defense News Top 100 List, up from 43rd last year, becoming the first Turkish defence company to rank among the global Top 40. The achievement reflects the company’s sustained growth, expanding global footprint, record backlog, continued investments in advanced technologies and industrial capacity, and its position as Europe’s fifth-largest defence company by market capitalisation.
As Türkiye’s leading defense company, ASELSAN’s upward movement to the global Top 40 underscores the company’s transformation under its aselsaneXt strategy, which aims to evolve ASELSAN from a local defense supplier into a leading global defence electronics and systems provider. With capabilities spanning air defence, electronic warfare, radar, electro-optics, communications, avionics, guided munitions, naval systems and unmanned platforms, ASELSAN continues to develop integrated technologies addressing the increasingly complex requirements of modern warfare.
ASELSAN’s rise in the ranking also reflects its strong operational performance, sustained investments in advanced technologies, expanding global footprint, and growing stature as a global defence brand. In 2025, the company secured more than USD 2 billion in export contracts, while in the first half of 2026, new contract awards increased 72% to USD 4.9 billion, driving the company’s backlog to a record USD 23.2 billion, up 45%. Revenue increased 38.5% to USD 2 billion in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period of 2025. During the same period, investments in capacity and scale expansion surged 195% to USD 323 million, while R&D spending rose 41% to USD 804 million, supporting ASELSAN’s continued technological, industrial and international expansion, with its global footprint growing to 97 countries.
A major milestone in this expansion is ASELSAN’s Oğulbey Technology Base, the largest investment in the company’s history. The facility is being commissioned in phases, with the first section now operational and employees already beginning production of selected air defence systems on site. Once fully operational, the project is designed to more than double ASELSAN’s production capacity and significantly strengthen its serial production infrastructure for critical systems, particularly those developed as part of Steel Dome. The completed facility is planned to become Europe’s largest integrated air defence facility.
At the heart of ASELSAN’s technological transformation is Steel Dome, Türkiye’s sovereign, multi-layered air defence architecture providing integrated protection across different ranges against a wide spectrum of aerial threats. Its advanced, networked capabilities reflect the technological depth behind ASELSAN’s rise in the Defense News Top 100, complemented by the company’s strong capabilities in land, air and naval systems, mission payloads, and electronic warfare superiority.
ASELSAN President & CEO Ahmet Akyol commented on the company’s rise in the global ranking: “Our rise in the Defense News Top 100 is a clear reflection of the scale, momentum and global competitiveness ASELSAN has built. In just three years, we have grown our backlog from USD 7–8 billion to USD 23 billion, and with the opportunities and contract negotiations currently underway, we are targeting USD 30 billion by year-end. With more than 14,000 employees, a world-class engineering and R&D community, and a rapidly expanding presence across NATO markets, as underscored by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte’s visit to ASELSAN, as well as across Europe, the Gulf and other strategic regions, we are building ASELSAN into a global defence technology powerhouse. As we look ahead, we are determined to climb even higher in the Defense News Top 100, expanding our export reach, accelerating deliveries, and strengthening our technological and industrial capabilities at scale.”
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