SAHA 2026 International Defense, Aerospace Industry Fair, organized at Istanbul Expo Center with the organization of SAHA Istanbul, Turkey’s and Europe’s largest defense, aviation and space industry cluster, has started. At the opening ceremony, SAHA Istanbul Chairman of the Board of Directors Haluk Bayraktar addressed the visitors. Bayraktar said: “Dear Minister of National Defense, Dear Minister of Industry and Technology, Dear President of Defense Industry, esteemed guests and valued stakeholders of our industry; In this period of increasing global uncertainties, we are proud to host you under the roof of SAHA 2026, which is the point where common sense meets technology.
Welcome, you have brought joy. Dear Guests, today we are not just opening a fair. We are talking about a mentality revolution and the new equation of the global ecosystem. The world is at a critical threshold where it has evolved from trade wars to a struggle for technological dominance. Our country and our friends are engaged in an existential struggle at this point. We are showing together how the future will be shaped by technology in SAHA 2026.
The world is waking up sharply from the illusion of free trade that it has been accustomed to for a long time. ‘Customs wars’ and ‘protectionism’ are not just trade terms but have become new fronts of the global power struggle. Geopolitical tensions, blockages in critical arteries such as the Strait of Hormuz, and volatility in energy costs have shown how fragile industrial supply is. In such a new era, national production capacity is not just an economic choice, but a vital “endurance test” and an inevitable necessity for the survival of states.
Future technologies are centrally tied to the security of supply of rare earth elements. In this new era where supply is used as a geopolitical weapon, resource diversity and technological independence have become one of the most critical building blocks of national security. The nature of warfare is changing radically. The picture we see in Ukraine tells us this. Modern warfare manifests itself as the sum of technology and industrial production capacity.
Recently, especially the use of unmanned platforms and drones has become central to conventional warfare. The 127-fold increase in the use of drones in the field is the most concrete evidence that military doctrines have now been rewritten on autonomous systems. He is not only a witness of this change in Turkey, but also one of its strongest pioneers. The world has reopened the discussions on nuclear deterrence, which it had shelved after the Cold War.
Global defense spending reached a historic peak of $2.9 trillion. The annual growth rate of 8.1% proves that the world no longer sees defense as an “expenditure” but as a vital “existence insurance”. 100% of the spending is made by just 10 countries. However, our country is increasing its weight as a playmaker producer day by day, with its growth rate of 100,000 and its strategic depth. The 6% increase in European defense expenditures appears as a reflection of the old continent’s search for “strategic autonomy”.
Defense demand now transcends geographical boundaries. At this point, we do not just export products, we build trust and strategic partnership. Artificial intelligence is no longer a ‘promise of the future’ but the most disruptive force in the field. It is not a coincidence that some companies serving the Pentagon have grown beyond 0 in a short time. In dark hands, this technology becomes a strategic operating system that directs the decision-making mechanisms of states and armies and rebuilds domination with digital codes.
We must pay attention… We cannot allow this transformation to drag us into a techno-feudalism that makes us dependent on global overlords. Because in a system whose algorithm and data belong to someone else, we can only speak of digital captivity, not fully independent sovereignty. All these processes are a complete value chain extending from trained human resources to R&D and even financing. The strongest link in this chain is our qualified human resources.
At this point, the biggest success of the National Technology Move is to make Turkish youth dream in their own country. At this point, modern defense doctrine necessitates a transition to a mobile production paradigm with low unit cost, high volume and rapid verification in the field, leaving behind cumbersome development processes. In this period of increasing threats, increasing the share of our defense expenditures in GDP is a strategic necessity.
The share of imports in our budget, which exceeds 36 billion dollars, is also gradually decreasing. Our localization rate, which was around 100 in the early 2000s, reached 500 with the driving force of the National Technology Move. We also increase our exports every year. Our 2026 target of 13 billion dollars of exports will be one of the seals that Turkish engineering has put on the world. Dear Guests, We do not look at locality only in terms of numbers or percentages.
For us, domestic industry participation is a concrete step that shows the rate of full independence. Every technology whose design and algorithm is not ours is a candidate to make us a digital colony of the new world order. Dear Guests, this table is not just a trade balance sheet. The continuous decrease in our defense imports is the most concrete proof that the National Technology Move is not an empty slogan, but an independence doctrine that yields results in the field.
We are proud to exceed the psychological limit of 10 billion dollars in exports in 2025. The biggest item in imports is the purchase of passenger aircraft by our airline companies. When we deduct civilian items such as passenger aircraft purchases, the foreign trade balance of our defense industry has reached the highest points in our history. However, the point I really want to draw attention to here is the quality of our exports.
From a country that used to export only simple components, today we have transformed into a technology center that gets a share from high technology exports, from smart ammunition to unmanned systems. This wide range, from UCAVs to warships, is an indication that Turkey can no longer be condemned to technological unipolarity. The defense industry is no longer just a security issue. This sector is now the locomotive and flagship of Turkey’s high-technology-based industrial transformation.
World leadership in UAV exports and the products we export to 185 countries are the clearest fruit of this strategic focus. Now, let’s take a look at Europe’s largest cluster, SAHA Istanbul, which is the meeting point of all these global and local dynamics. Today, with our network of more than 1,300 member companies, 30 universities and 49 cities, we are a big family that learns and produces together. Spanning an area of more than 400,000 square meters, SAHA 2026 is more than a fair, it is the meeting point of the minds that will dominate technology.
We will host 263 leading international companies from more than 120 countries at the fair. This huge ecosystem that makes SAHA 2026 possible is not only the work of companies and institutions, but also the work of a common mind united by the ideal of complete independence. I would like to express my gratitude to all the institutions of our state and all our stakeholders, especially our President, who supported the National Technology Move and walked with us on this path.
We continue on our way, building on the success we achieved in SAHA 2024. With our expectation of more than 1,700 participating companies and more than 150,000 visitors this year, we are raising the bar higher every time. We place the SAHA brand at the top of the world defense literature. The project volume of 14.3 billion dollars and the export capacity exceeding 8 billion dollars, managed by more than 88 thousand qualified workforce, also prove the operational efficiency of the SAHA Istanbul ecosystem.
In addition to all these, product launches that the world will see for the first time, nearly 200 signing ceremonies and more than 30 thousand business meetings will also leave their mark on this fair. Especially our FPV Drone and UGV Fighting areas will be places where innovation becomes concrete. Our visitors will witness panels where the future of the world and our industry will be discussed, and space meetings where beyond the horizon will be discussed.
A total of 192 official delegations from 4 continents and 76 countries are here today… SAHA is now a global brand. Every continent, from Europe to Asia, from Africa to America, is looking to Istanbul today to follow developments in technology and understand how their defense needs will be shaped in the future. The 173 signing ceremonies held within the scope of SAHA 2026 represent a strategic business volume of 8 billion dollars, of which 6 billion dollars are directly export-oriented.
Dear Guests, Every penny obtained from SAHA 2026 will turn into an investment for our national future. We will establish Drone production and training centers for our youth in each of our 81 provinces. 81 centers in 81 provinces, the largest of which is in Istanbul… We will build, step by step, an infrastructure that will increase the technological competence of our young people in this field and create the capacity to quickly produce millions of drones in emergency situations.
Our aim is not only to produce technology but also to raise a ‘Technology Generation’ that will use and develop this technology. Dear Guests, Our horizon is now beyond the sky… In the process from SAHA MUEK to IAC 2026, we will continue to be one of the strongest supporters of Turkey’s National Space Program. Dear Guests, Today, the world is drifting towards uncertainty under the shadow of insensitive algorithms and huge digital monopolies.
Some present this technological revolution as a horror scenario. Turkey predicted this rupture that the world is talking about today exactly 20 years ago and took precautions. A lot of prices were paid and lives were sacrificed for this cause. Many sons of the country devoted their lives to this struggle… The point we have reached today is the fruit of those silent heroes and their hard work. Yes, we are in a good place today, but we are not done yet.
We still have a lot of work to do and a long way to go. Now is the time to stand up with a spirit of mobilization for complete independence in all fields of technology, from defense to health, from energy to finance. It is our duty to quickly train our young people with the equipment of this new age and raise them as soldiers who lead technology. The National Technology Move is never an industrial project on its own.
It is not capital-oriented, but people-oriented. It rises not with greed for profit, but with equality of opportunity. It is the embodiment of an understanding that defends justice, maintains mercy, cares for the oppressed and serves humanity. As a result, our path in the second century of our Republic is the path of producing technologies that start with a dream and grow with the prayers of a nation, that shield the oppressed and hinder the oppressors.
This path is the name of Turkey’s self-confidence, our common hopes and our claim to reunite humanity with its own values. We succeeded together, we will continue to succeed stronger! I would like to express my gratitude to all my teammates who contributed to this great meeting of the National Technology Move. I greet you all with my most sincere respects, to meet in the ideal of a fully independent, prosperous and just world.
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