Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) Chairman Haluk Görgün outlined quantum technology targets for 2026 during the 5th Global Strategies in Aerospace and Defense Industry Conference on February 2, 2026. According to Türkiye Today, contracts will be signed in 2026 for developing superconducting quantum processing units (QPU) and for deploying quantum magnetometers for GNSS-independent navigation and submarine detection.
Görgün described 2026 as a “critical threshold year” for Turkish defense technology across aviation, naval, electronic warfare, and emerging technology domains. He reported that the defense sector’s goods and services exports exceeded $10 billion in 2025, with $17.9 billion in new export contracts signed. On workforce retention, Görgün noted a positive shift: in 2023, 339 engineers left the country with only 47 returning, while by 2025, 190 qualified experts returned against 98 departures.
The quantum procurement targets followed the November 2024 launch of Turkey’s first 5-qubit quantum computer, QuanT, and President Erdogan’s December 2024 announcement of a planned superconducting chip production facility. The QPU and magnetometer contracts represent the first publicly announced defense procurement actions specifically targeting quantum hardware development in Turkey.