Aselsan adds new platforms for Turkey’s Steel Dome national air defense, eyes export deals

IDEF 2025 — Turkish electronics giant Aselsan made a splash at the International Defense Industry Fair, unveiling a number of land and naval systems, part of what the firm’s CEO said was a dual push into providing for domestic needs like the air defense project Steel Dome as well as eyeing aggressive exports.

As for Steel Dome, Aselsan has made “huge investments, and we will have more following years, and also where there are many alliance countries, including NATO, European countries, Gulf region, Asia, they have huge team demands [and] we are trying to meet their requirements, and we are trying to deliver systems to allies also,” Aselsan CEO Ahmet Akyol told Breaking Defense in an interview on the sidelines of the show. “So not for only Turkey, but for also our allies. This will be useful. The main idea is to have a deterrence and prevent wars and conflicts.”

Among other systems the firm displayed for the first time at IDEF, both related to Steel Dome and not, were the KORAL 200 mobile radar electronic warfare system, the TURAN Brigade on the mobile communication system, the EJDERHA high-power electromagnetic counter-UAV protection system and the GÜRZ unmanned air defense system. All these systems will be part of the Steel Dome air defense.

Additionally, on the naval side Aselsan said it has added to the Steel Dome air defense the Goksur vertical-launch system, which is a naval missile launcher and CENK 4D 2-Axis an AESA multifunctional radar.

Status Of Steel Dome

In March, Aselsan was on the receiving end of an announced $616 million investment from the Turkish Ministry of Industry and Technology to build out new facilities, some of which would be used specifically for Steel Dome projects. The Steel Dome is envisioned as a multi-layered air defense system based, in name at least, on Israel’s system, which includes the Iron Dome platform.

Akyol said that while the company is continually adding new systems and solutions, the operational timeline for the final version of the project isn’t fully set.

“These kind of solutions are not endless systems, not [only] for Turkey, for all countries, because you have a huge territory and also threat environment is not stable. We are trying to add new features,” he said.

He added that as a developer of seekers, missiles, guidance kits, and electronic warfare, the firms is aware that the threats and defenses are dynamic and evolving. “So I cannot say this is the time we will finish this project.”

“But I can say the number of units we delivered … or we are delivering in this year [2025] in Steel Dome is double, [two] times higher when we compare to previous years,” he said.

Akyol told Breaking Defense that he envisions part of Steel Dome includes eliminating threats in the outer layers of the atmosphere.

International Ambitions

Currently Steel Dome is Aselsan’s main “vision with the [Turkish] government,” but that doesn’t mean the firm has take its eye of the potential for overseas exports of the defense tech.

“Separately some parts are exported, but as a concept, I think we need to have assessments with the countries, because of the territorial and geographical reasons countries can have different approach,” he said. “Some of them have maritime problems. Some of them have territorial problems. So it could be tailor-made solution for Steel Dome.”

Akyol said there was interest in Steel Dome “from the Gulf states and also Eastern Europe.”

“I see a huge motivation and demand. These are the results of actual conflicts,” he said. “There is a huge demand, but main purpose is to make something together — co-production, co-design, co-investment. So we are open this kind of work. So we will have some kind of joint efforts with the Gulf states in this air defense and other domains.”

Looking Ahead

While Aselsan is celebrating this year’s fifth anniversary, the firm has is increasing its serial production capabilities and is adopting AI to enhance its capabilities. It has also shifted from being a “project-based” company to a “product-based” firm, according to its CEO.

Akyol also reflected on the recent growth of the firm since adopting what he called a next transformation and development program one year and a half ago.

“We are at one-and-a-half year of the this program, and the number of new products are higher than before, the market cap, the revenue backlogs and also the percentage of exports, international collaborations and all deliveries, sales, all are growing at least two digits in every area. So I believe we will close this year very satisfying financial results and also technological achievements,” he said, saying the company’s market cap has topped $20 billion. Aselsan’s backlog now is over $15 billion, he Akyol said, which the firm wants to aggressively grow.

“We have a very concrete target for 2030 being one of the [top] 30 defense industry company, and having 50 percent revenue from international markets in at the end of 2030. This is our concrete solid targets,” Akyol added, specifying that the Gulf States and Far East countries are “leading region” for Aselsan’s exports.

Regarding his next five-year plan, he said that it is a double-digit “growth in every area, increasing efficiency year by year, adopting AI to all procedures and products and building new technologies like quantum and AI domain based models.”