Roketsan

Roketsan is Turkey's primary rocket and missile manufacturer, founded in 1988 in Ankara with a 50.1% stake held by MKEK (Machinery and Chemical Industry Corporation, a Turkish state defense enterprise) and the remainder by ROKETSAN employees and Turkish defense industry entities. As Turkey's largest domestic missile and rocket house, Roketsan has built a comprehensive portfolio of tactical weapons and is now extending its expertise toward space launch capabilities under Turkey's National Space Program.

The company's defense product line is extensive and export-proven: the UMTAS laser-guided anti-tank missile integrated on the ATAK helicopter, the CIRIT 70mm semi-active laser rocket for precision strikes, the SOM air-launched cruise missile (600+ km range, JASSM-class), TRG-230/300 multiple launch rocket system rounds equipping Turkish ground forces, and the HISAR family of short-range air defense systems. This breadth of solid and liquid propulsion experience directly underpins Roketsan's sounding rocket and nascent orbital launch programs. Defense export clients include Pakistan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Kazakhstan.

In space, Roketsan develops the Miçotesi sounding rocket family reaching altitudes of 100-200 km for atmospheric science, payload qualification, and microgravity experiments. The company is developing the RTA (Roketsan Turkish Rocket — orbital-class) solid-fueled launch vehicle to deliver small satellites to LEO, aligned with Turkey's National Space Program goal of an indigenous orbital launch capability by 2028. Turkey's Space Agency (TUA), established in 2018, coordinates with Roketsan, TÜBITAK UZAY, and Türksat on space ambitions including a domestic satellite manufacturing ecosystem and lunar missions by 2033.

Roketsan's space launch work positions Turkey among an emerging tier of nations — alongside South Korea, New Zealand, Japan, and India — developing commercially and militarily relevant independent orbital access. Domestically, Roketsan competes for program leadership with TÜBITAK SAGE (guided systems R&D) and ASELSAN (electronics/avionics), while internationally Turkey's ambitions compare with the ISRO-PSLV ecosystem and KSLV-II Nuri as sovereign orbital launch programs outside the major spacefaring nations.