RADARSAN: The SSB-Backed Radar Start-Up Turning Sensor Fusion Into AI Traffic Enforcement

A small Istanbul radar house owned through Türkiye’s defence procurement agency has completed its first large installation outside Türkiye. In January 2026 RADARSAN brought 150 Trafidar AI-enabled traffic radars into service in Northern Cyprus: 130 fixed and 20 mobile units across 30 locations.

Why a defence-funded firm builds traffic radars

RADARSAN was set up in 2014 at Teknopark Istanbul by founders returning from careers abroad, and became a subsidiary of SSTEK, the investment arm of the Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB), in 2022. Its core disciplines are sensor fusion, radar and deep learning. Traffic enforcement is the first high-volume market for that stack; public security is the second.

That sequencing is familiar in Europe and the US, where many ISR sensor companies grew on police and border contracts before moving into military programmes. The difference in Türkiye is that the defence procurement agency is both a development partner and, through SSTEK, a shareholder.

What Trafidar does

Trafidar tracks up to four lanes and records speed, licence plate, make, model, vehicle type, position and colour, day and night and in any weather. It was developed with the Interior Ministry, the General Directorate of Security and the SSB, received type approval in 2017 and entered service with Turkish police in 2023. RADARSAN general manager Serhat Doğan says the system removes dependence on imported enforcement radars and their licensing fees, and that its driver-only imaging supports personal data protection.

The rest of the portfolio

• ManPro: a mobile public security and surveillance system used for counter-terrorism, intelligence, anti-smuggling and organised crime work.
• CoVision: an automated visual inspection system selected for Toyota production lines in 2019.

Implications

For NATO-area customers the relevance is in the model rather than the single product: a domestic AI/radar stack, certified for police use, and backed by the same agency that funds Türkiye’s military sensor programmes. Northern Cyprus, where officials cite more than 50 road deaths a year, is the first proof point outside the Turkish mainland.

Not publicly verified

Total Trafidar units in service across Türkiye, RADARSAN’s headcount and revenue are not available in verified open sources.

Sources: Haber Kıbrıs report on the Trafidar deployment (16 January 2026); RADARSAN corporate website (About, Trafidar, ManPro pages); Teknopark Istanbul and Para Dergi coverage of Trafidar; Envanter Medya company profile.