Five Turkish defence companies have entered the 2026 Defense News Top 100, with ASELSAN rising into the global top 40 and ARCA Savunma making its first appearance at No. 53 after a sharp increase in reported defence revenue.
The 2026 ranking, based on 2025 defence-related revenue, places ASELSAN at No. 40, Turkish Aerospace at No. 48, ARCA Savunma at No. 53, ROKETSAN at No. 64 and Makine ve Kimya Endüstrisi at No. 81. Together, the five companies generated approximately $14.9 billion in 2025 defence revenue according to Defense News data.
ASELSAN Reaches the Global Top 40
ASELSAN remains Türkiye’s highest-ranked defence company and climbed from 43rd to 40th place.
Defense News reports 2025 total revenue of $4.56 billion and defence revenue of $4.46 billion, meaning approximately 98% of the company’s reported revenue was defence-related. The ranking’s current comparison column shows defence revenue increasing from $3.54 billion in 2024 to $4.46 billion in 2025, an increase of roughly 26%.
The result is consistent with the company’s wider industrial expansion. ASELSAN later reported a $23.2 billion backlog in the first half of 2026 while increasing capital expenditure, R&D and production capacity across air defence, radar, electronic warfare, naval electronics, electro-optics and guided systems.
The ranking should nevertheless be interpreted as a revenue measure rather than a direct measure of technological capability, backlog or market value.
Turkish Aerospace Ranks 48th Despite Higher Revenue
Turkish Aerospace ranks 48th, compared with 47th in the previous list.
Its 2025 defence revenue increased to $3.65 billion from $3.15 billion in the comparison data shown in the 2026 table, an increase of approximately 16%.
The one-place decline therefore does not indicate falling revenue. It reflects relative movement among companies around the same part of the ranking and the effect of higher-revenue entrants.
This is an important distinction when interpreting annual league tables: a company can grow materially while still moving down if competitors grow faster.
ARCA Savunma Is the Largest Turkish Ranking Change
The most striking Turkish development is ARCA Savunma’s first appearance in the Top 100.
Defense News places ARCA at No. 53 with 2025 defence revenue of $3.004 billion and total revenue of $3.007 billion. The table therefore categorises virtually all of the company’s reported revenue as defence-related.
The current 2026 table shows ARCA’s defence revenue at $653.2 million for 2024. On that basis, 2025 revenue was approximately 4.6 times the prior-year figure, or about 360% higher.
Defense News marks ARCA as “NEW,” which means the company did not appear on the previous year’s Top 100. The label does not mean the company had no defence revenue in 2024.
This distinction matters because Defense News combines company submissions with publicly sourced and estimated financial data where companies do not participate directly.
ROKETSAN Climbs Seven Places to No. 64
ROKETSAN rose from 71st to 64th place.
The current table gives the company 2025 defence revenue of $2.369 billion, compared with $2.005 billion in the 2024 comparison column, an increase of approximately 18%.
Defense News classifies 100% of ROKETSAN’s reported revenue as defence-related.
The ranking improvement coincides with a period in which ROKETSAN is expanding across ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, anti-ship weapons, air defence, naval effectors and other guided systems. The ranking, however, measures recognised 2025 revenue rather than later programme announcements or order intake.
MKE Records Higher Revenue but Slips to No. 81
Makine ve Kimya Endüstrisi ranks 81st, one place below its previous No. 80 position.
Defense News reports $1.421 billion in 2025 defence revenue, up from $1.209 billion in the 2024 comparison column, representing growth of approximately 18%.
As with Turkish Aerospace, the lower ranking position does not reflect declining sales. It reflects the relative reshuffling of companies around the same revenue band.
ASFAT Drops Out as ARCA Enters
The number of Turkish companies remains five, but the composition changed.
In the 2025 Defense News list, Türkiye was represented by ASELSAN, Turkish Aerospace, ROKETSAN, ASFAT and MKE. ASFAT ranked 78th with 2024 defence revenue of approximately $1.276 billion.
ASFAT does not appear in the current 2026 Top 100 table, while ARCA enters directly at No. 53.
This means the headline “five Turkish companies” should not be interpreted as a continuation of exactly the same five firms.
The Five Current Turkish Firms Generated $14.9 Billion
Using Defense News’ 2025 defence-revenue figures, the five current Turkish companies generated a combined $14.905 billion.
ASELSAN accounted for the largest share at $4.46 billion, followed by Turkish Aerospace at $3.65 billion, ARCA at $3.00 billion, ROKETSAN at $2.37 billion and MKE at $1.42 billion.
The same five companies show combined 2024 defence revenue of approximately $10.56 billion in the current 2026 table, implying an aggregate increase of roughly 41.1% on that same-company comparison.
That calculation should still be treated cautiously because Defense News explicitly states that some figures are estimates and that methodology, source revisions and corporate changes can affect year-to-year comparisons.
A Cross-Edition National Growth Rate Is Less Reliable
If the five Turkish companies that actually appeared in the published 2025 list are added together, their reported defence revenue was approximately $10.72 billion.
Comparing that with the 2026 Turkish total of $14.90 billion would imply growth of about 39%, but it is not a fully like-for-like comparison because ARCA replaced ASFAT and historical revenue figures can change between editions.
Defence Agenda therefore treats $14.9 billion as the robust current-year aggregate and avoids presenting a single national growth percentage as if it were an audited sector statistic.
Defense News Uses a Mixed Data Methodology
The Top 100 is not based solely on audited company submissions.
Defense News states that many companies voluntarily submit revenue data, while figures for non-participating companies may be sourced or estimated using public information, industry analysis and research from partners including the Spade Defense Index and the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
For the 2026 ranking, non-U.S. currency values were converted to dollars using IRS annual average exchange rates for 2025 and 2024.
Defense News also warns that rank changes can reflect revised methodology, updated source reports and corporate restructuring rather than organic revenue growth alone.
The Global Top Five Remains Dominated by Western Primes
Lockheed Martin remains first globally with $72.14 billion in 2025 defence revenue.
RTX is second at $46 billion, General Dynamics third at $39.4 billion, Northrop Grumman fourth at $37.04 billion and BAE Systems fifth at $36 billion.
The scale gap remains substantial. ASELSAN’s $4.46 billion defence revenue is roughly 6% of Lockheed Martin’s figure.
The strategic significance of the Turkish rise therefore lies less in approaching the top five immediately and more in the widening number of Turkish companies operating at multi-billion-dollar defence-revenue scale.
Türkiye Now Has Four Firms Above $2 Billion in Defence Revenue
One of the clearest structural indicators in the 2026 table is that four Turkish companies exceed $2 billion in annual defence revenue: ASELSAN, Turkish Aerospace, ARCA and ROKETSAN.
MKE follows at $1.42 billion.
This shows that Türkiye’s defence-industrial scale is no longer concentrated in a single electronics or aerospace champion. Major revenue pools now exist across electronics, aerospace, missiles, ammunition and production-intensive defence manufacturing.
Export Growth Provides the Wider Sector Context
The ranking sits within a wider increase in Turkish defence and aerospace exports.
Türkiye recorded $10.054 billion in defence and aerospace exports in 2025 according to official figures previously tracked by Defence Agenda. In the 12 months to 31 May 2026, Anadolu Agency reported exports of approximately $10.9 billion, with NATO members accounting for 57.3% of the total.
These export figures are not directly comparable with Defense News company revenue. Exports measure cross-border sales across the sector, while the Top 100 measures company defence revenue regardless of whether sales are domestic or international.
Backlog and Production Capacity Will Shape the Next Ranking
The 2026 Top 100 is backward-looking because it ranks companies using 2025 revenue.
The next ranking will depend on how effectively companies convert 2026 orders and backlog into delivered systems and recognised revenue.
ASELSAN’s $23.2 billion first-half backlog is an obvious example. A large backlog does not automatically increase ranking position unless production capacity allows systems to be delivered and revenue to be recognised.
The same principle applies to aircraft, missiles, ammunition and platform programmes. Türkiye’s ability to move from contract announcements into repeatable serial production will determine whether the current rankings represent a plateau or another step in a longer climb.
Limitations and Counterpoint
The Top 100 should not be treated as a complete measure of national defence-industrial power.
Revenue does not directly measure technology sovereignty, export dependency, profitability, production capacity, intellectual property, supply-chain resilience or military effectiveness.
Some firms operate almost entirely in defence while others combine large commercial businesses with smaller defence segments, affecting comparability.
The table also includes estimated data for some companies and can revise historical figures between editions.
Finally, a higher rank may result from competitors falling or methodology changes, while a lower rank can occur even when a company’s own revenue rises. Turkish Aerospace and MKE demonstrate this dynamic in the 2026 list.
Implications / Next
The first indicator to watch is whether ARCA sustains its new multi-billion-dollar revenue level. Its first Top 100 appearance is large enough to alter Türkiye’s representation materially.
The second is ASELSAN. Continued conversion of its record backlog could move the company further up the table if production expansion keeps pace with demand.
The third is Turkish Aerospace, where HÜRJET, KAAN, helicopter and UAV programmes could expand recognised revenue as production volumes rise.
The fourth is ROKETSAN and MKE, whose rankings will depend increasingly on serial-production throughput and international deliveries rather than new-product announcements alone.
The fifth is ASFAT. Its absence from the 2026 ranking will be worth monitoring, but no cause should be inferred without a direct disclosure from Defense News or the company.
Conclusion
Türkiye has maintained five companies in the Defense News Top 100 while materially changing the composition and scale of its representation.
ASELSAN has entered the global top 40, ROKETSAN has climbed to 64th, Turkish Aerospace remains inside the top 50 despite higher competition, and MKE continues above $1.4 billion in annual defence revenue.
The largest change is ARCA Savunma, which enters directly at No. 53 with $3 billion in defence revenue, replacing ASFAT in Türkiye’s five-company group.
The combined $14.9 billion total confirms that Türkiye now has several defence companies operating at multi-billion-dollar annual revenue scale. The next test is whether expanding backlogs, exports and manufacturing investment can be converted into sustained delivery growth and a broader Turkish presence in the upper half of the global ranking.
