Türkiye Launches Defense Quantum Program With QPU, KERTERİZ Projects
By Bosphorus News Defense Desk
Türkiye's Presidency of Defence Industries has launched the SSB Quantum Program and opened the Türkiye Quantum Platform, placing quantum technology inside a formal defence-industry structure covering computing, sensing, communication and human-capital development.
The program was introduced at a June 24 ceremony hosted by the presidency, with Higher Education Council President Erol Özvar, university rectors, academics and defence-industry representatives attending the launch.
The event included signatures for the Superconducting Quantum Processor Unit (QPU) Development Project, the KERTERİZ Project on quantum magnetometers for navigation and submarine-detection applications, a strategic competence development protocol for defence-industry quantum technologies and the SSB Quantum Algorithm Competition.
Presidency of Defence Industries head Haluk Görgün said quantum technologies had moved beyond theoretical science into a capability field with direct effects on defence industry. He identified computing, sensing and communication as areas that could shape future military and industrial systems.
Görgün said quantum technologies could affect cryptology, optimisation, data analysis, simulation and signal-independent navigation systems. His remarks placed the program within Türkiye's effort to reduce foreign dependence in defence systems and build domestic competence in high-end research fields.
The Türkiye Quantum Platform was established under the coordination of the Presidency of Defence Industries to raise national awareness, develop technical capabilities and strengthen Türkiye's domestic quantum ecosystem. It is designed to collect ecosystem announcements and technical content in one place while supporting coordination between industry, academia and research institutions.
The structure builds on a quantum technologies development program launched by the presidency's research and technology management department in 2020. Its roadmap was updated through Quantum Focus Technology Network work that began in 2024 and was completed in 2025.
The roadmap covers quantum computing, quantum sensing and quantum communication. The process brought together 305 experts from 123 institutions and identified 85 technology topics, divided between 34 near-term and 51 longer-term areas.
The QPU project gives the program a processor-development track, while KERTERİZ links quantum sensing to navigation and submarine-detection use cases. The wording is important: the sources describe development and demonstration projects, not operational systems already fielded by the Turkish Armed Forces.
The algorithm competition adds a talent pipeline to the program. Applications opened on June 24 and the final hackathon is scheduled for September at Teknopark İstanbul, with results and an award ceremony planned for October. The listed prizes are 400,000 Turkish liras for first place, 250,000 liras for second and 150,000 liras for third.
The launch gives SSB a single institutional frame for a technology field that has been discussed across defence, universities and research centres but has not previously had the same public-facing program architecture. It also places quantum technologies alongside artificial intelligence, unmanned systems, air defence and advanced electronics as areas where Türkiye is trying to deepen local design and engineering capacity.
The defence value remains developmental. Quantum computing could support future optimisation, simulation and cryptology work, while quantum sensing could support navigation and detection in environments where conventional signals are limited or contested. Turning those tracks into deployable systems will depend on laboratories, skilled personnel, suppliers, testing infrastructure and long-term funding.
The June 24 launch does not mean Türkiye has produced an operational quantum computer or deployed a quantum sensor. It shows that SSB is treating quantum technologies as an organised defence-industry program, with named projects, a platform structure, a roadmap, university links and a competition channel aimed at younger engineering talent.
Sources: Türkiye Quantum Platform, Anadolu Agency, Hürriyet, Bosphorus News review and reporting.