As Israel and Iran waged the unprecedented Twelve-Day War in June, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan quietly accelerated a major expansion of Turkey’s military capabilities, acquiring both advanced foreign weapons and homegrown systems.
Just days after Israel began its massive airstrikes on Iran, Erdogan announced plans to boost Turkey’s medium- and long-range missile stockpiles, declaring: “God willing, we will soon have a defense capacity so strong that no one will dare challenge us.”
Turkey already fields air defense and ballistic missile systems, but Erdogan’s push suggests a renewed focus on the country’s “Steel Dome”—a multilayered national air defense network modeled in part after Israel’s Iron Dome but designed to integrate a broader range of systems. Turkey has steadily expanded its missile program since the 1990s, when China licensed Ankara to build B-611 missiles. Turkey later introduced the Bora-1 short-range ballistic missile in 2017 and successfully tested the longer-range Tayfun missile in both October 2022 and February 2025. Ankara is also developing the Cenk medium-range ballistic missile, which could significantly extend its offensive reach.
The heightened global instability—and Iran’s battered missile arsenal after Israel’s strikes—could fuel foreign interest in Turkish missiles. Experts suggest Turkey’s ballistic missile exports could outpace Iran’s, just as Turkey’s drones have already gained a wider international market.
But Erdogan’s ambitions don’t stop with missiles. Turkey is pushing ahead with the Steel Dome project, despite gaps in anti-ballistic capability in its existing homegrown systems like the high-altitude Siper. Notably, Turkey’s Russian-made S-400s—the only systems it currently has with anti-ballistic features—are not being integrated into the Steel Dome.
Following Israel’s use of air-launched ballistic missiles to devastate Iranian air defenses, Erdogan renewed a request to French President Emmanuel Macron for co-production of the SAMP/T air defense missile system. Integrating SAMP/T would dramatically boost Turkey’s anti-ballistic defenses and align them more closely with NATO systems—something impossible with the isolated S-400s.
Meanwhile, Erdogan is working to modernize Turkey’s aging air force. Political fallout from the 2019 S-400 purchase excluded Turkey from the F-35 program and delayed upgrades to its F-16 fleet. But diplomatic momentum has shifted: In a June 29 interview, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack expressed optimism about resolving the F-35 dispute by year-end. A day later, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the U.K. is making “excellent progress” on Turkey’s request for Eurofighter Typhoons, signaling broad consortium support.
Turkey is currently seeking 40 new F-16s, 40 F-35As, and 40 Eurofighters. Acquiring these 120 jets over the next decade would transform the Turkish Air Force and keep it competitive with regional rivals. The Eurofighter package could also include the long-range Meteor air-to-air missile, giving Turkish pilots a range advantage over adversaries.
All these developments underscore how seriously Ankara is preparing for modern warfare—especially as the recent Israel-Iran conflict demonstrated how quickly airpower and missile capabilities can tip the balance.
