On Tuesday, July 9, the Atlantic Council Turkey Programs organized a discussion on Turkey’s emerging defense technologies and the future of NATO. The event focused on how NATO can leverage and enhance cooperation in this critical component in modern warfare and launched an Atlantic Council issue brief on the topic, authored by Can Kasapoglu and Sine Ozkarasahin.

Turkey’s experience and prowess in defense technologies, particularly in robotic warfare, can strengthen collective capabilities and enhance the Alliance’s strategic edge with an eye to current and future threats.

Through the incorporation of emerging defense technologies (EDTs) and increasing digitalization of the battlefield, Russia’s war on Ukraine has provided important lessons for the future of warfare. Unmanned systems, in particular, have played a pronounced role on both sides. One lesson is clear; that successful development and adoption of EDTs is increasingly becoming key to triumph on the modern battlefield. For NATO to succeed in this environment, it needs to capitalize on the assets of its members and engender intra-Alliance cooperation in this critical field.

Turkey has been one of the leading pioneers in drone warfare technology and doctrine with demonstrable success in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in battlefields across the region including Syria, Libya, the South Caucasus, and Ukraine’s initial defense to Russia’s invasion. In addition to UAVs, Turkey has a long running unmanned surface vehicle (USV) program, through which it has participated in NATO exercises, an expanding unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) program and is developing cross-domain concepts to integrate the varied robotic industries into its military.

This event took place under the scope of the Atlantic Council’s 2024 NATO Washington Summit campaign.

Speakers

Fellow

Thomas X. Hammes

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Conflict Defense Industry

Board director

James L. Jones, Jr.

Executive Chairman Emeritus

Can Kasapoglu
Non-resident Senior Fellow
Hudson Institute

Volkan Öskiper
Deputy Director General for NATO and European Atlantic Security Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye

Fellow

Rich Outzen

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Atlantic Council in Turkey

Arabic Central Asia

Relevant content

Issue Brief

Jul 8, 2024

Turkey’s emerging and disruptive technologies capacity and NATO: Defense policy, prospects, and limitations

By Can Kasapoğlu and Sine Özkaraşahin

An issue brief exploring Turkey’s defense technological ecosystem and leveraging its capabilities for the benefit of NATO.

Defense Industry Defense Policy

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The Atlantic Council in Turkey, which is in charge of the Turkey program, aims to promote and strengthen transatlantic engagement with the region by providing a high-level forum and pursuing programming to address the most important issues on energy, economics, security, and defense.

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