Türkiye Moves to Expand Commando Brigades to 40 Units

By Bosphorus News Defense Desk

Defence Minister Yaşar Güler said on April 10 that Türkiye plans to expand its commando brigade capacity from 25 units to 40 within three years, outlining a major increase in ground force capacity at the same conference where he confirmed Türkiye's future command of NATO's Allied Reaction Force.

Güler made the remarks at the "NATO's Ankara Moment: Strategic Positioning for a Resilient Alliance" conference in Ankara, organised by the Presidency's Directorate of Communications and SETA. While public attention focused on his statement that Türkiye will assume command of NATO's Allied Reaction Force from 2028, his comments on commando force expansion pointed to a parallel shift in the structure of the Turkish Armed Forces. As Bosphorus News reported in its separate coverage of the NATO command decision, Güler said Türkiye will lead the alliance's Allied Reaction Force for two years through the Istanbul-based 3rd Corps, placing the country more deeply inside NATO's evolving high-readiness command structure.

"Our commando brigade capacity, which was 17 in 2021, has reached 25 today," Güler said, adding that new formations are planned to push that number into the "40 range" within three years. He said the existing structure had already enabled simultaneous operations across six different theatres, ranging from direct combat to capacity-building missions.

The expansion appears to extend beyond a planning target. The 40th Commando Training Brigade in Isparta held oath ceremonies in January and March 2026, pointing to continued personnel intake and training activity as Türkiye enlarges its commando pipeline.

Commando brigades have become central to Türkiye's cross-border military posture over the past decade. They have formed the core of operations in northern Iraq and northern Syria, where Ankara has relied on highly mobile light infantry formations for sustained operations in difficult terrain and forward security zones.

The force model also has an external training dimension. At Türkiye's TURKSOM military base in Somalia, Turkish personnel have trained Somali commando forces as part of Ankara's wider security role abroad. That gives the commando structure a second function beyond direct operations, linking it to Türkiye's growing military training and capacity-building footprint.

The timing of Güler's statement is notable. At the same conference, he said Türkiye will take command of NATO's Allied Reaction Force through the Istanbul-based 3rd Corps from 2028 for a two-year period. Taken together, the two announcements point to simultaneous movement on two tracks: a deeper role inside NATO's high-readiness command system and a broader expansion of Türkiye's own mobile ground force capacity.

That wider direction was also visible in NATO's Steadfast Dart 2026 exercise, where Türkiye provided a major troop contribution. The exercise highlighted rapid deployment, multinational coordination and expeditionary readiness, all areas that align closely with the operational logic behind Türkiye's commando-heavy force posture.

If the target outlined by Güler is reached on schedule, Türkiye's commando brigade capacity would move from 25 to around 40 by 2029, marking one of the most significant recent expansions in the country's light ground combat structure.