Turkey’s Defense Industry Executive Committee (SSİK) approved the establishment of a Quantum Technologies Development Centre at its meeting on August 6, 2024. According to a legal analysis published by Herdem Attorneys at Law, the center is the first of its kind in the country and is intended to create infrastructure for the development and application of quantum technologies within Turkey.
Stated objectives of the centre include building a domestic innovation ecosystem, cultivating skilled human resources, and advancing capabilities in quantum communication, encryption, detection, and computing. The approval came during the same SSİK session that greenlit the Steel Dome integrated air defense project.
Several defense-sector quantum projects were already underway at the time of the decision. ASELSAN, in collaboration with Özyeğin University, had been working on a quantum LIDAR system. A separate quantum radar project involved ASELSAN, Gebze Technical University, and TOBB ETU. ASELSAN and Bilkent University’s ANOTAM center were developing superlattice infrared detector sets for reconnaissance and surveillance applications.