NATO deputy chief hails Türkiye's defense industry, urges production boost

NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska on Tuesday highlighted Türkiye's defense industry as a model of rapid industrial transformation, telling the EU-Türkiye Business Summit in Brussels that the alliance must expand production capacity to meet growing security demands.

Shekerinska said NATO allies need to accelerate defense production and strengthen industrial cooperation to maintain their technological edge. "We have excellent examples in the Turkish defense industry because we have been seeing practically an industrial revolution there, not just in the last few years, but over a longer period of time," she said.

Ukraine war lessons

The changing nature of warfare, particularly developments on the battlefield in Ukraine, has underscored the need for faster innovation cycles and data-driven solutions, Shekerinska noted. "What the war in Ukraine has taught us was that technology is more demanding, innovation cycles are faster, data-centered, data-driven defense solutions will dominate," she said.

She pointed to artificial intelligence-driven solutions, uncrewed systems and counter-drone capabilities as key areas in which NATO allies need to invest and develop their defense industries.

Allied industrial capacity

Despite increased defense spending across Europe and North America, NATO's overall industrial production capacity remains below required levels, Shekerinska stressed. "We are also very strongly cooperating, even with the countries in the Indo-Pacific, because if you take all our defense industries and their production capacity, we are still not where we want to be," she said.

She added that defense companies must be able to cooperate across national borders, noting that NATO has been working to reduce trade barriers to unlock the full potential of allied industrial capabilities. The second edition of the EU-Türkiye Business Summit brought together leaders from business, government and civil society to explore how the EU and Türkiye can convert economic interdependence into strategic resilience.