Egypt and Turkey explore fresh defense manufacturing ties at EDEX 2025

Egypt and Turkey used the platform of EDEX 2025 to quietly advance one of the more strategically interesting defense dialogues emerging in the Middle East. On December 2, Minister of State for Military Production Mohamed Salah El-Din Mostafa met with Turkey’s Defence Industries Agency Vice President Gökhan Uçar—who headed the unusually large Turkish contingent of 81 defense firms—to discuss concrete steps toward joint manufacturing, technology cooperation, and industrial integration.

From Egypt's side, the core message was blunt: Cairo wants to boost local production capacity and cut reliance on imported components. Mostafa emphasized Egypt’s strategy of expanding domestic manufacturing depth and embedding high-tech production in-country, aligned with political directives to localize cutting-edge technologies.

Turkey’s approach was equally clear. Uçar highlighted interest in working with Egypt’s state-linked military manufacturers, describing them as major regional players with meaningful industrial weight. The strong Turkish presence—by far one of the most visible this year—signals Ankara’s intent to shape supply-chain partnerships in Africa and the Arab world rather than merely act as a vendor.

The conversation wasn’t ceremonial. Both sides agreed to proceed with technical-level visits between engineering teams and manufacturing specialists to evaluate integration points—whether component-level cooperation, licensed assembly, co-design, or full JV manufacturing in Egypt for export markets.

Strategic implications:

• Egypt is positioning itself as a regional manufacturing base rather than a simple buyer.
• Turkey is looking to expand beyond NATO-centric markets and deepen industrial linkages in the Middle East and Africa.
• The shift is toward co-manufacturing and long-term industrial presence—rather than transactional arms sales.

If follow-through happens, the Egypt–Turkey channel could reshape the region’s defense-industrial map and introduce a new axis of collaborative manufacturing in a market traditionally dominated by U.S., European, and—to a growing extent—Asian suppliers.