Ankara: Turkish defense software company Havelsan sees potential to transfer more technology to NATO countries in the coming years, its CEO Mehmet Akif Nacar said Tuesday. 'We contribute technology to NATO, and we closely follow NATO programs to further advance this,' Nacar told Anadolu on the sidelines of the Defense Industry Forum held in Ankara as part of the 36th NATO Summit.
According to Anadolu Agency, Nacar emphasized the importance of this initiative as a significant step for Havelsan and a key indicator for the development of Turkish defense industry technologies. He highlighted Havelsan's role in developing technologies suited for the future operational environment in areas such as simulation, command and control, cybersecurity, military software, and system integration for both the Turkish Armed Forces and global partners.
Nacar pointed out the significance of NATO countries for Havelsan and recalled the company's achievement last year in exporting network planning software to NATO for tactical data link management centers, marking its first contracts with the alliance. He also underlined NATO's annual Coalition Warrior Interoperability eXploration, eXperimentation, eXamination, eXercise, or CWIX, and noted Havelsan's active participation in this exercise, where interoperability is evaluated, certified, and tested.
He mentioned that Havelsan's products were tested and certified at the exercise this year, focusing on software interoperability, integration, communication between systems, and data links. The company develops technologies aligned with NATO requirements and exports them to relevant countries.
Nacar also shared that Havelsan developed a coast guard surveillance system for a Black Sea country and provides training and simulation systems under the Hurjet project signed between Turkish Aerospace Industries and Spain. He discussed the increasing prominence of multi-domain and joint operations, emphasizing the integration of Havelsan's products across air, land, and sea domains to create synergy.
He highlighted the importance of developing AI-supported battle management systems and mentioned that Havelsan introduced AI-supported products at IDEF 2025 and SAHA 2026. The company uses its own AI algorithm, MAIN, to meet defense needs that require a closed-loop AI system. Nacar stressed the need to process and interpret large data amounts for operational decision support and autonomous decision-making.
Nacar concluded by mentioning the ongoing discussions in NATO sessions about these issues and Havelsan's efforts to update its technological infrastructure and pursue international cooperation in AI-supported command and control, modeling, and simulation environments.