A state of anxiety and anticipation has loomed over Israeli circles since the launch of the “SAHA 2026” defense industries exhibition in Istanbul, held from May 6 to 9, especially after the unveiling of Türkiye’s latest missile systems, foremost among them the hypersonic “Yildirim Khan” missile, which “Israel”i media described as representing a strategic turning point in the trajectory of Türkiye’s defense industries.
On the exhibition’s first day, the Israeli newspaper “Maariv” published a report an extensive report examining the dimensions of this military development, highlighting the scale of concern and astonishment within Israeli security and media circles over the qualitative leap Ankara has achieved in missile industries, especially amid claims that the missile had been developed in complete secrecy over years with barely any leaks.
The report considered what happened to be not merely an update of Türkiye’s military capabilities, but a reflection of a deeper shift in Ankara’s defense doctrine. Türkiye is no longer content with strengthening its regional influence; rather, it is moving toward building a long-range strategic deterrence system that grants it growing international weight, something that has begun to stir mounting security and political concerns inside “Israel”.
With the rapid boom Türkiye has achieved in recent years in military manufacturing, the expansion of its defense partnership network, and the signing of armament and cooperation agreements with a number of regional and international powers, Israeli media has adopted an increasingly escalatory tone toward Ankara as part of a systematic campaign seeking to portray Türkiye as a “new Iran” in the region, in an attempt to link the growth of its missile and military capabilities to threats affecting “Israel’s” traditional superiority and security dominance in the Middle East.
טורקיה הציגה טיל היפרסוני: "בעל הטווח הארוך ביותר שפותח עד כה"https://t.co/Nchs3PxK6H pic.twitter.com/n0tKMkpbnG
— ynet עדכוני (@ynetalerts) May 5, 2026
A Turkish Boom in Defense Industries
Türkiye has witnessed an unprecedented boom in the defense industries sector in recent years, including the development of attack and strategic drones, domestic air defense systems, ballistic and hypersonic missiles, alongside major expansion in naval and heavy military industries, as part of a strategy aimed at strengthening defense independence and cementing Ankara’s position as a rising military power on the international stage.
The “SAHA 2026” defense industries exhibition, hosted by Istanbul, revealed the scale of this transformation in striking fashion, with the participation of around 1,700 companies from 120 countries amid broad international interest in Turkish military technology. This was reflected in the signing of 182 defense agreements and partnerships with a total value of about $8 billion, including $6 billion allocated to export deals.
Türkiye is now among the world’s top ten arms exporters, having succeeded in establishing its growing presence in the markets of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, benefiting from the rapid development of its military industries and its ability to offer advanced weapons systems at competitive cost.
Perhaps the most prominent development that sparked astonishment and concern among many regional and international powers was the unveiling of the prototype of the “Yildirim Khan” missile, which has a range of 6,000 kilometers, placing it in the category of intercontinental ballistic missiles, according to the accepted military classifications for missiles whose range exceeds 5,500 kilometers.
The missile is distinguished by a speed reaching around 25 times the speed of sound, with the ability to carry a three-ton warhead, giving it high destructive and deterrent capabilities, in addition to its ability to cover the entire European continent and large parts of Asia and Africa, representing a qualitative shift in the regional balance of power.
These capabilities indicate that Türkiye has moved to an advanced level in the missile technology race, surpassing in some respects the capabilities of regional powers with significant military influence, such as Pakistan and Iran, which have not yet managed to develop intercontinental missiles with such range.
If this project enters actual service, Türkiye will become the ninth country in the world to possess intercontinental ballistic missiles, alongside the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain, India, “Israel”, and North Korea, reflecting the scale of the transformation currently taking place in Turkish military doctrine and defense industries.
Strengthening Military Partnerships
Türkiye’s development in the defense and security fields has not been limited to modernizing its military arsenal and developing weapons systems alone; it has also extended to building a broad network of military and security partnerships and agreements with a large number of countries inside and outside the region, as part of a strategy aimed at enhancing Ankara’s geopolitical influence and consolidating its presence as a rising defense power on the international stage.
These moves included concluding agreements on military cooperation, technology transfer, joint training, and defense manufacturing, alongside expanding areas of cooperation in advanced military industries. This has been reflected in growing understandings with Arab, African, and European countries, in addition to expanding cooperation in drones and modern defense systems.
In the recent period, Ankara has strengthened its presence in Central Asia through a series of defense agreements with members of the Organization of Turkic States, signing understandings with Uzbekistan that included joint military exercises, technical cooperation, and military medicine, alongside agreements with Kazakhstan in the fields of cybersecurity and technical coordination, in addition to growing cooperation with Azerbaijan on defense and security coordination files.
In the same context, Ankara signed dozens of military agreements and partnerships with a number of European countries in a bid to strengthen its defense and technological presence within the European continent and expand the markets for its military exports, especially in the fields of drones, naval industries, and advanced weapons systems.
Among the most prominent of these agreements is defense cooperation with Poland to supply it with Turkish “Bayraktar” drones, alongside partnerships with Italy in aviation, naval industries, and electronic defense, others with Spain in the naval industries sector, in addition to cooperation with Britain in aviation industries and military engines.
Ankara has also strengthened its defense cooperation with the Balkans and Eastern European countries, foremost among them Albania and Hungary, in parallel with expanding its presence within NATO frameworks, where it seeks to benefit from its position within the alliance to enhance joint defense industries and broaden the network of European military partnerships, thereby consolidating its gradual transformation into one of the most prominent players in the global defense industries market.
The Significance of the Timing
The timing of the unveiling of this advanced weapons arsenal during the “SAHA 2026” exhibition was not detached from the turbulent international and regional context; rather, it carried multiple political and military messages amid the geopolitical fluidity and the security and energy turmoil the world has been experiencing since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022, up to the current regional escalation and the ongoing war against Iran.
Over the past years, Türkiye has worked gradually and rapidly to develop its defense and military system, but the unveiling of a missile the size of “Yildirim Khan,” with its intercontinental range, extreme speed, and major destructive capabilities, coinciding with the expansion of its regional and international military partnership network eastward and westward, represents a qualitative turning point that goes beyond merely updating traditional military capabilities, reflecting Ankara’s transition to a new phase in deterrence equations and strategic balances.
This development gains added importance in light of the sensitive security environment in the region, especially with the continuation of Israeli concerns linked to the growth of Iranian missile capabilities and Tel Aviv’s constant pursuit of preserving its qualitative military superiority and security dominance, backed by Western support and guarantees extending over decades.
Hence, the timing of the announcement of these advanced Turkish missile systems triggered rising concern within “Israel”i circles, not only because of the nature of the declared weapon, but also because of what it may reflect in terms of a gradual shift in regional balances of power and the possibility of Türkiye emerging as a military power possessing strategic deterrence tools capable of influencing regional security equations.
These Israeli fears are increasing amid the escalating political tension between Ankara and “Tel Aviv” in recent years, prompting Israeli political and media circles to treat Turkish military development as a long-term strategic challenge that could in the future limit “Israel’s” traditional margin of superiority in the region.
A Systematic “Israel”i Campaign
Influential voices and circles inside “Israel” are moving to classify Türkiye as the “rising danger” or the “coming threat” in the region, in a political and media discourse that is becoming increasingly present within Israeli circles and that deliberately likens Ankara to Iran in terms of the level of potential threat and geopolitical impact. This discourse escalated markedly after the unveiling of the latest developments in Turkish defense industries, foremost among them advanced missile systems, turning Israeli concern from mere strategic anxieties into what is seen as a real long-term threat.
The Israeli discourse hostile to Türkiye is based on several main tracks, foremost among them the attempt to link Turkish defense and military developments to the specter of threatening the region’s security, by portraying Ankara as a power seeking to expand its military influence beyond its traditional borders and adopting an expansionist vision aimed at reshaping the balance of power in the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean, which, according to the Israeli narrative, constitutes a direct threat to regional stability.
The second track lies in the attempt to insert the Hamas resistance movement into the context of escalation against Ankara, by focusing on Türkiye’s growing relations with the movement’s leaders and linking any Turkish military or defense development to the possibility of supporting the Palestinian resistance or transferring military expertise and technology to it, as part of Israeli efforts to manufacture a hostile discourse that justifies political and media escalation against Turkish policies in the region.
טורקיה הציגה טיל היפרסוני חדש: "בעל הטווח הארוך ביותר שפותח עד כה" | המזרחן יוני בן מנחם מזהיר: "טורקיה היא איראן החדשה. היא מתחילה להתעצם עם טילים ארוכי טווח, בדיוק כפי שאיראן עשתה. ארדואן מעריך שהמשטר האיראני יקרוס והוא רוצה להחליף אותו. זו תופעה מסוכנת מאוד שצריכה להדליק… pic.twitter.com/RdcJjZe2E9
— C14 (@C14_news) May 6, 2026
By contrast, this discourse largely ignores the scale of the development Türkiye has achieved in the field of defense industries and the advanced technological and military accomplishments it has reached. Instead, it focuses on interpreting these capabilities through the lens of Ankara’s political intentions and geopolitical ambitions, and seeks to portray its military rise as an expansionist project threatening regional balances, in an attempt to incite international public opinion and stir fears over the growing Turkish role politically and militarily.
Taken together, these tracks reflect the scale of the concern “Tel Aviv” has come to feel over the growth of Turkish military capabilities and the widening network of defense and security partnerships that Ankara is building with regional and international powers to the east and west. This explains the rise of voices inside “Israel” that now view Türkiye as one of the most prominent future strategic challenges to the Israeli entity, despite the continuation of diplomatic and economic relations between the two sides.
How Is Ankara Dealing With This Discourse?
In the face of the escalating Israeli discourse toward it, Ankara has adopted a counter political and media discourse whose essence is the complete refutation and rejection of Israeli claims, based on several main pillars, foremost among them emphasizing its sovereign and national right to develop its defense and military industries, considering that an internal matter tied to its national security and the independence of its strategic decision-making, in which no external party has the right to interfere or impose restrictions.
Türkiye repeatedly stresses that its defense project is primarily aimed at enhancing its strategic autonomy and reducing dependence on external actors in building its armament system, especially in light of the rapid international transformations and the growing security challenges witnessed by the region and the world in recent years.
The second pillar in Turkish discourse is the insistence that all forms of defense, security, and military cooperation it establishes with different countries take place within internationally recognized legal and diplomatic frameworks, whether through military cooperation agreements, technology transfer, joint manufacturing, or security training, while emphasizing that these moves are fully subject to the rules of international legitimacy and do not target any specific party.
In the same context, Ankara seeks to employ a regional reassurance discourse by emphasizing that the development of its military capabilities falls within its natural right to protect its national security, amid a turbulent regional environment that compels various states to reconsider their defense strategies and reduce the cost of external dependence in the fields of armament, security, and energy.
At the same time, it stresses that the growth of its military capabilities is not aimed at destabilizing the region or threatening any state, no matter how deep the political disagreements with it may be, but rather at achieving a deterrent balance that preserves Turkish interests and strengthens its regional and international standing.
Türkiye’s disinformation center denies Israeli media claims that various groups received weapons and drone training in Türkiye, calling them baselesshttps://t.co/W1NgOe48dA
— Türkiye Today (@turkiyetodaycom) May 8, 2026
The Turkish government also seeks to thwart “Israel”i efforts aimed at turning international public opinion against it through the Hamas file, by denying accusations related to training or arming members of the movement and considering those claims part of a campaign of black political and media propaganda aimed at distorting Türkiye’s role in the region and pressuring its regional policies.
At the same time, the Turkish government is careful to avoid any political or moral rupture with the Palestinian resistance, which it considers one of the main objectives of Israeli discourse. It repeatedly affirms its political and humanitarian support for the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people’s right to resist occupation, but without endorsing Israeli narratives regarding direct military support or the transfer of technology and armaments as promoted by “Tel Aviv”.
In sum, this systematic Israeli campaign against Türkiye reveals the extent of the sensitivity and anxiety within Israeli political and security circles over Türkiye’s rapid rise in defense industries and military technology, alongside the notable expansion of the network of security and military partnerships and agreements that Ankara is weaving with regional and international powers to the east and west.
This campaign also reflects growing Israeli awareness of the scale of the transformation Türkiye has undergone in recent years, not only as a regional power possessing growing tools of political and military influence, but also as a pivotal player in regional equations and an increasingly influential pillar within the global defense industries market.