Türkiye Targets Full Explosives Independence with $1.5B MKE Expansion
By Bosphorus News Defense Desk
On April 16, Türkiye's Ministry of National Defence said state-owned Machinery and Chemical Industry Corporation, or MKE, is advancing a $1.5 billion investment program covering 2023 to 2027 to expand ammunition and defence production while ending foreign dependence in explosive raw materials. The announcement came during the ministry's weekly press briefing and framed the effort as a structural industrial move rather than a single factory opening.
At the center of the program is the Hüseyin Kâhya Energetic Materials Factory in Kırıkkale, which is planned to begin production in 2026. According to the defence ministry briefing reflected across multiple sector reports, the facility is expected to produce nitrocellulose, propellants, rocket fuels and strategic explosives, while also enabling domestic output of concentrated nitric acid and solid TNT. Those last two items are particularly notable because they point to localization not only in final munitions output but in the chemical base that sustains it.
The broader investment package also targets higher production volumes in several ammunition categories, including 155 mm artillery rounds, 76 mm naval gun systems, rockets and mortar ammunition. The shift matters because it pushes MKE further upstream. Instead of only scaling finished munitions, Türkiye is trying to secure the energetics chain that feeds propulsion and warhead production. In practical terms, that improves supply resilience, reduces import vulnerability and gives Ankara more room to sustain output during periods of external pressure or supply disruption.
Additional reporting in Turkish media says the Kırıkkale complex is being built on a very large site and could generate around 1,000 jobs, with existing rocket fuel, propellant and explosive production capacity projected to rise by roughly three times once the project is completed. Those operational details are not yet as central as the ministry's strategic message, but they reinforce the scale of the buildout now underway.
The announcement also fits a wider MKE expansion track already visible over the past year. Company and sector reporting tied to earlier investment rounds pointed to large-scale spending in Ankara, Kırıkkale and Samsun to expand propellant and ammunition infrastructure. That gives the current move added weight. What is now being presented is not an isolated procurement story. It is a deeper attempt to anchor Türkiye's ammunition surge in domestically controlled energetics, which is where real wartime manufacturing endurance is decided.