Pakistan Adds Turkish Thermobaric Weapon to Its Arsenal — Roketsan’s Gazap Scores First Export
Pakistan has become the first export customer for Roketsan’s Gazap thermobaric weapon, acquiring the Turkish munition in a deal that underscores how far Ankara has traveled in the global arms market — and how deep the Turkey-Pakistan defense relationship has grown.
Thermobaric weapons, sometimes called fuel-air explosives, operate on a fundamentally different principle than conventional munitions. Rather than relying solely on the energy stored within a warhead, they disperse a cloud of combustible material into the surrounding air, then ignite it. The resulting pressure wave is far larger and longer in duration than a conventional blast, making them particularly effective against targets in enclosed spaces — tunnels, bunkers, fortified buildings. The Gazap is designed to deliver that effect at ranges and accuracy levels that put it in the same conversation as Western counterparts.
Pakistan’s decision pushes the Turkey-Pakistan defense relationship into high-lethality, specialized munitions — territory that typically demands a higher degree of industrial and political trust. For Roketsan, the sale marks another data point in Turkey’s emergence as a credible arms exporter. Turkish defense exports have crossed the billion-dollar threshold, and the Gazap deal signals that Ankara is now competing in categories — specialized ammunition, precision-guided munitions — once dominated almost exclusively by American, Russian, and Western European suppliers. Source: Army Recognition / Defence Blog.
