SAHA 2026 International Defense, Aerospace Industry Fair, organized by SAHA Istanbul, Turkey’s and Europe’s largest defense, aviation and space industry cluster, will open its doors at Istanbul Expo Center tomorrow. SAHA 2026 will be held at Istanbul Expo Center between 5-9 May in the global communication partnership of Anadolu Agency (AA). In the nineteenth and last news of AA’s file titled “The heart of technology will beat in SAHA”, the items that will stand out at the fair were included.
SAHA 2026, which will be held in a closed and open area of 400 thousand square meters in total, will mark one of the largest organizations to date by reserving 20 thousand square meters of the area as an open exhibition area. More than 1700 companies, 263 of which are international, more than 200 thousand visitors and more than 30 thousand industry professionals are expected to attend the fair, where participation from more than 120 countries is expected.
More than 30 thousand B2B meetings planned within the scope of the fair will transform the organization from a showcase area into a platform for direct business development, supply chain matching and strategic partnership production. It is aimed to increase the export contract size to at least 8 billion dollars. In SAHA 2026, 203 new product introductions and a total of 164 signing ceremonies will be held. This figure corresponds to approximately 3 times the export-oriented agreements made in the previous fair, revealing the increasing economic impact of the organization.
It is aimed to increase the export contract size of 6.2 billion dollars reached in SAHA 2024 to at least 8 billion dollars in SAHA 2026. While participation from Europe, the USA and Canada stands out, many companies, company representatives, official delegations, trade delegations and visitors from 4 continents of the world will come together at SAHA 2026. Many high-tech and game-changing new products will meet the global ecosystem for the first time at SAHA 2026.
In addition, state-of-the-art autonomous vehicles developed in Turkey in the fields of unmanned land vehicles and planetary rovers will demonstrate their capabilities on special tracks. Within the scope of the fair, platforms belonging to the naval forces will also be opened to visitors. Ships belonging to the Turkish Navy, especially TCG Anadolu, which stands out as the world’s first UAV ship, will be deployed at Ataköy Marina and Sarayburnu Port.
Local and national unmanned marine vehicles will also be exhibited at Ataköy Marina. SAHA planned May 9 as People’s Day in 2026. The Turkish defense industry will appear at SAHA with its new products. Many technologies will be exhibited for the first time at SAHA 2026. In this context, the MIZRAK smart loitering ammunition, developed nationally and uniquely by Baykar and attracting attention with its range exceeding 1000 kilometers and artificial intelligence-supported autonomous capabilities, will be showcased at the fair.
The K2 Kamikaze UAV and Mosquito-pelting ammunition developed by Baykar will be exhibited for the first time at SAHA 2026. ASELSAN will bring together the national technologies of the future with the global defense ecosystem at SAHA 2026 with 5 new products and new versions of 6 products. During the fair, the company will introduce the new striking forces of the “blue homeland”, different technologies that will provide new capabilities to ÇELİKKUBBE, and new systems that will change the game in air attack.
ALKA-KAPLAN HYBRID Directed Energy Weapon System Platform, which emerged in cooperation with ROKETSAN and FNSS and is publicly known as the “laser weapon”, will appear in SAHA 2026 with additional capabilities. ROKETSAN’s newest and advanced technology products will also be introduced at the fair. STM will exhibit the air and sea systems it has developed for the needs of the modern warfare field for the first time at SAHA 2026.
Long Range Kamikaze UAV is one of the national technologies that the company will highlight at the fair. A new version of the fixed-wing kamikaze UAV ALPAGU, equipped with advanced capabilities, increased range and payload capacity, the Preventive UAV System, which brings an innovative approach to the air defense concept, and the Mini Reconnaissance-Surveillance System, which will provide instant intelligence and data flow, will also be presented to the public for the first time.
More than 140 official delegations will attend the fair. More than 140 official delegations, more than 800 official delegation members, and more than 200 commercial purchasing delegation representatives will attend the fair. In addition, the participation of more than 25 foreign ministers and many high-level military officials will further increase the international visibility and strategic impact of the organization.
The future of defense technologies, security architecture, industrial transformation and new cooperation models will be discussed comprehensively with 17 international panels, 4 “Space Talks” sessions and keynote speeches to be held within the scope of the program. In this context, high-level visits will be made to the fair by delegations led by many heads of state, ministers, chiefs of general staff and force commanders.
The aim will be to develop international collaborations by holding one-on-one meetings with participating companies. One of the most important themes of SAHA 2026 this year will be the investment ecosystem. In addition to international investment funds, financial institutions and strategic investors, companies within the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) and NATO DIANA Program will also take part in the fair. At the event, SMEs’ access to global markets, access to finance and integration into international collaborations will be supported.
The second important thematic focus of the fair is the space ecosystem. Space technologies will be made more visible with the Space Pavilion to be established within the scope of SAHA 2026 and the specially designed Space Dome area. Source: AA
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