ASELSAN Targets 150 Steel Dome Deliveries as Turkey Expands Air Defense Shield
By Bosphorus News Defense Desk
ASELSAN plans to deliver more than 150 components for Türkiye's Steel Dome air defense architecture in 2026, sharply increasing the pace of a program designed to reduce Ankara's dependence on external air defense cover.
ASELSAN General Manager Ahmet Akyol told Reuters during SAHA 2026 in Istanbul that the company would raise Steel Dome deliveries by 50 percent this year. The systems to be delivered include early warning radars, electronic warfare and defense systems, payloads and counter-drone components.
The figures mark a new phase for Steel Dome, Türkiye's integrated air and missile defense effort first announced in July 2024. The project is intended to connect radars, air defense weapons, electronic warfare systems, command-control units and counter-drone tools into a layered national shield.
Akyol said the drone threat has pushed air defense beyond the military field and into wider infrastructure security.
"At the moment, drone prevention is an issue everywhere in the world. Don't look at this only as defence, it is necessary for industrial security. Drones are a threat even in regions with no problems," he told Reuters.
That framing gives Steel Dome a broader role than classic air defense. Türkiye is building the architecture at a time when drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles have become central tools in conflicts across the Middle East, the Black Sea and the Gulf. The system is also meant to address a long-standing gap: Türkiye has developed a large defense industry, but it is still building a fully independent, integrated national air defense network.
ASELSAN's 2026 target follows earlier Steel Dome deliveries. In August 2025, the company said 47 key components of the architecture, valued at $460 million, had been delivered to the Turkish Armed Forces as part of what ASELSAN described as the largest defense industry investment in Türkiye's history.
The SAHA 2026 cycle has widened the program further. ASELSAN introduced new electronic warfare and counter-UAV systems designed to feed into Steel Dome, while Türkiye's defense firms signed more than $8 billion in agreements at SAHA 2026, underscoring how the exhibition became a platform for both export expansion and air defense modernization.
The new ASELSAN systems include ILGAR 3-LT, KORAL AD, MİĞFER, GÖKALP, GÖKBERK 10 and EJDERHA 210. The systems cover communications jamming, aircraft radar suppression, FPV drone interception, autonomous kinetic drone neutralization, laser defense and high-power microwave capability against drone swarms.
The most immediate shift is in counter-drone warfare. GÖKBERK 10, displayed at SAHA 2026, uses a 10-kilowatt laser for precision defense in urban areas and military bases where collateral damage must be limited. GÖKALP is designed as a drone-hunting system that can autonomously track and physically strike kamikaze drones in flight.
The ballistic missile layer is also expanding. The Defense Industries Secretariat announced new contracts for SİPER-A and SİPER-4, adding higher-end missile defense elements to an architecture that had already focused heavily on radar, electronic warfare and short-to-medium range air defense.
Reuters reported that ASELSAN's Steel Dome related contracts account for $3.2 billion of a broader $6.5 billion investment package aimed at strengthening the system. Akyol said Steel Dome components are expected to make up nearly one-third of ASELSAN's portfolio in the coming years.
The naval dimension adds another layer. Akyol said Steel Dome components also form the backbone of systems used in Türkiye's domestically built naval fleet, with more than 40 ships under construction. That links the air defense program to a wider modernization cycle across land, air and maritime platforms.
For Ankara, the strategic logic is clear. Steel Dome is not only a procurement file. It is an attempt to build a national architecture able to detect, classify and respond to a wider spectrum of threats without relying on fragmented systems or allied deployments. The urgency has grown as missile and drone warfare spreads across Türkiye's surrounding regions.
The main test will be integration. Delivering more than 150 components in 2026 would increase the physical scale of Steel Dome, but the program's real value will depend on how effectively radars, interceptors, electronic warfare assets, command networks and directed-energy systems operate as a single shield.
***Sources: Reuters, ASELSAN, Anadolu Agency, Türkiye and Bosphorus News reporting.