Türkiye Defense Spending Hits $30 Billion as SIPRI Points to Arms Industry Drive
By Bosphorus News Defense Desk
Türkiye's military spending reached 30 billion dollars in 2025, ranking 18th globally, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's annual report published on April 27, 2026.
The figure marks a 7.2 percent increase in real terms from 2024 and a 94 percent rise since 2016. Military expenditure stood at 1.9 percent of gross domestic product, accounting for 1.0 percent of global spending.
The key shift sits behind the headline number. SIPRI identifies sustained investment in the domestic defence industry as the primary driver of the increase, rather than operational costs. Allocations to the dedicated defence industry fund rose 25 percent year-on-year in 2025 and accounted for 22 percent of total military expenditure.
SIPRI also points to Türkiye's ongoing operations in Iraq, Somalia and Syria, but treats them as secondary factors. That ordering reflects where the money is actually going. Active deployments are a cost. The industrial programme is an investment with returns.
Three Theatres, One Budget Line
That investment is running alongside a sustained operational tempo that few NATO members match. Türkiye maintains more than 120 military installations across northern Syria, including 12 full bases. It operates Camp TURKSOM in Mogadishu, its largest overseas facility, and runs continuous counter-PKK operations across northern Iraq. These are not temporary postures. They are permanent commitments with permanent costs, running concurrently with NATO missions in Kosovo and Bosnia-Hercegovina and regular multinational exercises including the ongoing Kurtaran Search and Rescue Exercise in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The combination places Türkiye among a limited group of NATO members operating across multiple theatres simultaneously. SIPRI data show alliance members collectively spent 1.581 trillion dollars in 2025, accounting for 55 percent of global military expenditure.
NATO's Benchmark and Türkiye's Output
Türkiye's spending, at 1.9 percent of GDP, sits just below NATO's 2 percent benchmark under SIPRI's methodology. The gap reflects differences in accounting rather than operational reality. NATO calculations have at times placed Türkiye above the threshold. The more relevant measure is what the spending sustains: three simultaneous overseas theatres, active NATO mission participation and a defence industry expansion programme running at full pace.
The burden-sharing debate inside NATO has focused heavily on budget percentages. Türkiye's case illustrates why that metric captures only part of the picture. Operational output, deployed forces and mission tempo are not reflected in a GDP ratio. As analysed by Bosphorus News, Türkiye is carrying weight across several of NATO's most exposed theatres while its place in Europe's defence architecture remains contested.
From Fund to Export
The industrial component links spending directly to output. Türkiye recorded 10.054 billion dollars in defence and aerospace exports in 2025, with unmanned systems leading growth. The same defence industry fund that SIPRI identifies as the primary driver of the 2025 spending increase is the mechanism that financed ANKA and Aksungur UAV development. Both platforms are now central to export deals and joint production negotiations.
That link is already visible in new partnerships. Following the April 27 parliamentary committee approval of the Türkiye-Brazil defence cooperation agreement, negotiations are under way on joint ANKA and Aksungur production in Brazil, alongside broader aerospace cooperation through the TAI-Embraer-Akaer framework. As reported by Bosphorus News, the Türkiye-Brazil track reflects a wider shift in Ankara's defence export model, moving beyond direct platform sales toward localisation, joint production and long-term industrial partnerships. The industrial base that SIPRI identifies as driving spending growth is the same base enabling that expansion.
Türkiye's defence spending is no longer defined primarily by threat response. The 30 billion dollar figure reflects an industrial programme that simultaneously reduces import dependence, sustains multi-theatre deployments and feeds directly into export revenue and new defence partnerships. The direction has not changed.
***Sources: SIPRI, "Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2025," April 27, 2026 (https://www.sipri.org/publications/2026/sipri-fact-sheets/trends-world-military-expenditure-2025); SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, April 2026; Daily Sabah, April 27, 2026; Turkish Minute, April 27, 2026; CNN, April 27, 2026; C4Defence, March 2026; Bosphorus News reporting.