President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday announced a major expansion of Türkiye’s defense capabilities, unveiling a $24 billion investment in the country's "Steel Dome" air and missile defense project while reaffirming Ankara’s commitment to strengthening NATO’s collective security architecture.

Addressing leaders at the opening of the 36th NATO Heads of State and Government Summit at the Exhibition Hall of the Presidential Complex in Ankara, Erdoğan said the new investment would help address what he described as one of the Alliance’s most critical capability gaps.

“With the ‘Steel Dome’ project, we have allocated an additional budget of 24 billion dollars to air and missile defense capabilities, the most critical capability gap of the Alliance,” Erdoğan said.

The Turkish president stressed that Türkiye continues to play a central role within NATO, highlighting that it possesses Europe’s largest land army and consistently places its military capabilities at the Alliance’s disposal whenever required.

“We endeavor to put our capabilities at the service of the Alliance when the need arises,” he said.

Erdoğan pointed to Türkiye’s extensive operational contributions, noting that Turkish forces remain among the leading contributors to NATO missions and exercises in Kosovo, the Black Sea region, the Baltic states and other strategic theaters.

Emphasizing Türkiye’s growing defense industry and battlefield experience with unmanned technologies, Erdoğan said Ankara plans to establish a NATO-accredited Center of Excellence for Countering Unmanned Systems.

“As an ally that successfully uses UAVs and UCAVs on real battlefields, we hope to accredit our Center of Excellence for Countering Unmanned Systems to NATO,” he said. “I believe that this center will consolidate our capability to respond especially to air and maritime drone threats.”

The proposed center is expected to focus on developing doctrine, training and technological cooperation against the rapidly evolving threat posed by unmanned aerial and maritime systems.

Beyond military modernization, Erdoğan called on NATO allies to deepen defense-industrial cooperation by removing restrictions on arms trade among member states. He argued that export controls and political limitations imposed between allies undermine the Alliance’s collective deterrence and create unnecessary divisions. Erdoğan also urged greater inclusivity in European defense initiatives, saying Türkiye should not be excluded from joint security and procurement mechanisms because it is not a member of the European Union.

The Ankara summit is focused on strengthening NATO’s deterrence posture, increasing defense investment, enhancing cooperation among allied defense industries and addressing ongoing security challenges ranging from the war in Ukraine to instability on the Alliance’s southern flank. Türkiye, hosting the summit for the first time in years, has emphasized its strategic role as a key contributor to NATO’s operational readiness and regional security.  (ILKHA)