Young People's Career Choice in Turkey's Defense Industry

Turkey's growth in the defense and aviation fields, increasing export figures, and expanding employment opportunities have directly affected young people's career choices, making the sector an attractive hub.

The Rise of the Defense Sector

While Turkey's defense industry grows, it is not only producing weapons, UAVs, missiles, radars, and fighter jets, but also transforming young people's professional choices.

The sector has become one of the primary targets, especially for young people studying in fields such as electrical-electronics, software, artificial intelligence, machinery, mechatronics, and aerospace.

Employment and Project Data

According to the report by the Presidency of Defense Industries, there are more than 3,500 companies, over 1,400 projects, and nearly 100,000 direct employment in the ecosystem.

While the average age of employees in the sector, whose turnover exceeds $20 billion, is recorded as 34, an employment target of 158,000 is set for 2028.

University and Education Processes

Along with this transformation seen in university preferences, engineering programs of established institutions such as METU, Bilkent, and Koç admit students with high success rankings.

Leading institutions like TUSAŞ and ROKETSAN integrate young talents into the system during their university stage through internship and candidate engineer programs.

Export Growth and the Future

While defense and aviation exports exceeded $10 billion in 2025, they reached $6.3 billion in the first eight months of 2026, and the portfolios of companies like ASELSAN expanded.

According to TUIK data, while the registered employment rate in the engineering field was 82.1 percent, this rate rose to 89.9 percent in aviation electrical and electronics.