Turkish defense giant ASELSAN adds $7.5 billion in orders in one quarter

ASELSAN, Türkiye’s largest defense electronics company, ended the third quarter of 2026 with a record order backlog of $30.7 billion, after adding $7.5 billion in a single quarter and passing the $30 billion mark for the first time in its history.

The Ankara-based company reported its results for the first nine months of the year on Oct. 27 in a disclosure to Türkiye’s Public Disclosure Platform. Revenue reached 151.5 billion Turkish lira, up 28% in real terms from the same period of 2025, and new export contracts rose 34% to $1.9 billion. ASELSAN reports in inflation-adjusted lira, a requirement for Turkish listed companies, so the growth figures are measured after accounting for the country’s high inflation.

The backlog figure is the headline number because it shows how much work the company already has under contract and has yet to deliver. ASELSAN said its book-to-bill ratio, which compares the value of new orders signed to the revenue recorded in the same period, rose to 4.4, meaning it booked more than four times as much new business as it billed. The company reached the $30 billion level ahead of its own forecast: in August, when it reported a first-half backlog of $23.2 billion, chief executive Ahmet Akyol said ASELSAN expected to see levels of $30 billion from next year onward. At the end of the first quarter, the backlog stood at $20.7 billion, when the company also posted its strongest quarterly export performance in years.

“2026 is not just a year in which ASELSAN has grown, it is the year we redefined the very scale of our growth,” said ASELSAN CEO Ahmet Akyol.

Air defense, radar and electronic warfare systems led revenue in the period, alongside underwater systems, AI-powered urban security systems, guided munitions, electro-optics and communications equipment. ASELSAN’s recent product launches span much of that portfolio, from a trailer-mounted version of its 35 mm counter-drone turret to the KILIÇ underwater strike system and TUFAN unmanned surface vessel unveiled at SAHA 2026 in Istanbul in May.

Profitability rose with sales. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a common measure of operating profit, climbed 38% to 40.6 billion lira, and the margin improved by 1.9 percentage points to 26.8%. Akyol attributed the gain to the use of artificial intelligence in company processes, digital transformation and a growing share of higher-value products, and said revenue per employee rose 4% in dollar terms.

ASELSAN is spending heavily to turn that backlog into deliveries. Capital investment at its new Oğulbey Technology Base and existing campuses rose 228% to $684 million in nine months, which Akyol said is nearly twice the company’s total capital spending for all of 2025. The first phase of Oğulbey, whose foundation was laid in 2025 and which the company describes as the largest single defense industry investment in the history of the Turkish Republic, came into operation during the period, along with a new Guided Ammunition Systems Production Center and expanded robotics and automation for air, naval and land systems production.

Research and development spending increased 36% to $1.3 billion. ASELSAN said it is directing that money toward low Earth orbit satellites, quantum computing, underwater technologies, high-power microwave systems, microelectronics, and smart munitions and propulsion. The satellite effort, called ASTRALINK, was presented for the first time at the International Space Congress in Antalya.

“ASELSAN which has provided Turkish Armed Forces’ communications on land, at sea and in the air since its founding, will now also provide satellite communication services,” said Akyol.

Operating cash flow reached 23 billion lira, financial liabilities stood at 14% of total assets, and financing expenses fell 10.3% from a year earlier. ASELSAN’s equity ratio was 55%, its return on equity rose 4 percentage points to 16.6%, and its return on assets reached 9%.

ASELSAN has also climbed in international rankings this year. In August it rose three places to 40th in Defense News’ Top 100 list of defense companies and became the first Turkish defense firm included in the Forbes Global 2000.

“Our primary responsibility moving forward is to convert this portfolio into timely deliveries, expanded production capacity, and sustained technological superiority,” said Akyol.