Technology Transfer: What Türkiye Actually Offers Defence Buyers
Technology Transfer: What Türkiye Actually Offers Defence Buyers
Every defence salesperson promises technology transfer. Few governments deliver it. Türkiye has built a reputation for being the supplier that actually moves industrial capability — not just product — across the border. Here is how the model works.
The Spectrum Of Industrial Cooperation
Defence industrial cooperation runs along a spectrum from least to most ambitious. Türkiye is willing to operate across all five levels — most Western OEMs only at the first two.
- Level 1 — Off-the-shelf sale: Product delivered, training provided.
- Level 2 — In-country sustainment: Local maintenance, spare parts depot, training centre.
- Level 3 — Local assembly: Buyer assembles delivered kits in-country.
- Level 4 — Co-production: Buyer manufactures defined subsystems locally.
- Level 5 — Joint development: Buyer and seller develop next-generation variants together.
Real Examples
Pakistan — MİLGEM corvettes: Four corvettes ordered, two built in Karachi alongside two in Istanbul. Full intellectual property transfer for the locally built hulls. Pakistan now has the industrial capability to maintain, modernise and — in time — design follow-on variants.
Indonesia — KAAN fighter: Memorandum of understanding signed for co-development and co-production of Türkiye’s fifth-generation fighter. Indonesian industry participates from early integration phases.
Azerbaijan — Multiple programmes: TB2, AKINCI and ground systems delivered with progressive integration of Azerbaijani industry. Joint manufacturing of selected components has been announced.
Ukraine — MİLGEM and TB2: Hetman Ivan Mazepa corvette launched at Okean Shipyard in Mykolaiv. Baykar broke ground on a UAV factory near Kyiv prior to the 2022 invasion.
Why The Model Works For Türkiye
Türkiye built its own defence industry largely from the late 1980s onward through exactly this kind of partnership with foreign suppliers — and learned what works and what does not. Today’s exporters in Ankara remember being yesterday’s buyers in foreign capitals. The negotiating posture reflects that history.
What Buyers Should Negotiate
- Intellectual property clarity: Get the IP map in writing — who owns what, who licenses what, under what conditions.
- Workshare percentages: Define in the contract what percentage of value-add occurs in-country, by programme phase.
- Critical-component access: Identify the subsystems you must be able to maintain or replace without Turkish approval, and negotiate access.
- Export rights: Can your country re-export the locally produced variant? To which buyers? Under what conditions?
- Knowledge transfer plan: Engineers seconded, training programmes, joint design reviews — written into the schedule.
The Bottom Line
Technology transfer is not a marketing promise — it is a contract structure. Türkiye is willing to write that structure with terms most Western OEMs are not. Buyers who push hard on the contract get more capability transferred than buyers who accept boilerplate.
