Turkey's EFES 2026 closes with 50 nations and first Bayraktar TB3 carrier launches from TCG Anadolu
Turkey's largest combined joint exercise, EFES 2026, concludes on May 21 with 10,388 personnel from 50 nations, including a first-time Syrian deployment since the Baathist regime fell and the first joint participation of rival Libyan east and west forces. Highlights included Baykar Bayraktar TB3 UCAV sorties from light carrier TCG Anadolu, a live demonstration of Aselsan's Steel Dome layered air defence, and an STM KARGU swarm of 20 units run by a single operator. A parallel exhibition is showcasing TAI's Kaan fighter, Hürjet trainer and Anka-3 stealth UCAV.
Turkey's largest combined joint live-fire exercise, EFES 2026, enters its final days at the Doganbey range in Seferihisar, Izmir, with 50 nations gathered to observe Distinguished Observer Day on May 20 and the closing live-fire maneuvers on May 21. The exercise has been running since April 20 with 10,388 personnel in the field, including 1,305 from allied and partner nations.
The participant roster is one of the most geographically diverse in the exercise's history. NATO allies including the United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom are training alongside Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Malaysia, with Japan, Sweden, Somalia and Rwanda also among the 50 countries. The exercise marks two firsts: the Syrian army's first participation since the fall of the decades-long Baathist regime, and the first joint deployment of rival Libyan military forces from the country's east and west.
Baykar's Bayraktar TB3 unmanned combat aerial vehicle conducted sorties directly from TCG Anadolu, Turkey's light aircraft carrier, in what officials described as a milestone for the country's naval aviation program. The heavy-payload Bayraktar Akinci drone provided intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support throughout the joint operations.
A live demonstration of Steel Dome, known in Turkish as Celik Kubbe, ran in parallel. Developed by Aselsan, the integrated air and missile defence system layers the long-range Siper platform with Hisar-A, Hisar-O and Sungur to cover threats from cruise missiles down to commercial-grade drones.
STM showcased its KARGU loitering-munition swarm, with a single operator controlling 20 units simultaneously -- a configuration that follows a live-fire test STM described as a world first in January 2026. The KARGU system has been operationally deployed across 15 countries on four continents.
The accompanying Defense Industry Exhibition has drawn procurement officials and military delegations to more than 50 Turkish defence firm stands. Turkish Aerospace Industries is displaying the Kaan fifth-generation fighter jet, the Hurjet advanced jet trainer and the Anka-3 stealth unmanned combat aircraft. Aselsan is presenting its Toygun and Karat electro-optical and infrared targeting systems, developed indigenously after foreign embargoes cut off previously imported optics technology.
For the governments represented at EFES 2026, the exercise frames a defence industry that has moved from dependency to self-sufficiency within a decade and is now competing for export contracts across Central Asia, Africa and Europe -- a trajectory visible in the May 12 announcement of a joint Karpat medium-tank programme between Turkish firm FNSS and Czech ammunition maker CSG, and in the run-up to the NATO Ankara Summit scheduled for July 7-8.