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Türkiye’s leading defense company ASELSAN formalized a fresh cooperation initiative in Romania. During a meeting in Bucharest, ASELSAN and ROMARM signed a memorandum of understanding to expand collaboration in core future battlefield domains.
The agreement prioritizes joint work on smart munitions and advanced guidance kits, two areas of increasing strategic weight as European militaries accelerate modernization.
Romania, which has scaled its defense spending and industrial cooperation since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, sees Turkish defense firms as reliable and rapidly scalable partners.
The understanding signals a sustained intent from both sides to co-develop technologies rather than limit cooperation to direct sales. ASELSAN emphasized that international partnerships of this kind are now a structural component of its global strategy, as the company seeks to position itself not only as a supplier but as an integrated contributor to the security architecture and industrial base of partner countries.
Beyond electronics and munitions, Türkiye’s defense industry is also executing one of its largest-ever single-item armored vehicle export projects to Romania. Otokar, one of Türkiye’s premier armored land systems producers, is currently in the active stages of the €857 million contract to deliver 1,059 COBRA II 4x4 vehicles.
Under the terms of the agreement, deliveries will occur over five years, covering ten different variants of COBRA II tailored to Romania’s requirements. The initial batch of 278 vehicles will be manufactured in Türkiye. Subsequent batches will be produced in Romania, marking the first time COBRA II vehicles will be manufactured abroad. In this phase, critical sub-systems sourced from Turkish suppliers will be integrated locally in Romania, indicating a deeper industrial transfer rather than simple finished-goods procurement.
The export program has had visible effects on Otokar’s production and revenue profile. In the first nine months of the previous year, the company manufactured 94 military vehicles. In the same period this year, that figure reached 224—representing a 128% increase. Sales numbers also rose by 55%, rising from 86 to 133 units in the comparable period.
Revenue generated from defense sector vehicles nearly doubled year-on-year. Income from these activities climbed from 2.732 billion Turkish lira to 5.303 billion, demonstrating the significance of export-led growth. Approximately 97% of Otokar’s defense revenue now comes from foreign sales, underlining how international demand—particularly from European NATO member states—is reshaping Türkiye’s defense industrial posture.
The Romania contract alone provides not only a major revenue anchor but also meaningful forward order visibility for upcoming years. In practical terms, this simplifies capital planning, production capacity ramp-up and supply chain stabilization. For both partners, it accelerates the integration of Turkish systems into NATO-allied defense ecosystems, while giving Romania a more diversified procurement base at a time when European defense demand is expected to remain elevated.
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