Turkey and France put military cooperation on an institutional footing: what the roadmap provides

Turkey’s Ministry of National Defence (MSB) gave the first details on Thursday, October 8, of the “Defence Cooperation Roadmap” signed by Ankara and Paris. According to ministry spokesman Zeki Aktürk, speaking at the weekly briefing in Kocaeli, the text aims to develop the two countries’ relations in defence and security “on the basis of mutual interests” and to put the existing cooperation on a “more institutional footing”.

What the text provides

The roadmap provides for regular consultations on defence and security issues and deeper cooperation in countering hybrid threats, in information exchange and in air defence, with better interoperability of the two sides’ systems. It includes more joint training, exchanges of personnel between military academies, ship visits to ports and joint exercises involving land, naval and air forces.

On the industrial side, the two countries want to develop joint programmes and business opportunities in the defence industry, encourage the exchange of information and technology, and increase contacts between their companies. Meetings will be held alternately in Paris and Ankara, and the first is planned for the last quarter of 2026, if the two sides agree.

The signing had been announced on October 3. On the Turkish side it was signed by the MSB’s Director General for Defence and Security, Lt. Gen. Ilkay Altindag, after meetings in Paris with Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Armed Forces Alice Rufo, the head of the French president’s military staff, General Vincent Giraud, and the Director General for International Relations and Strategy, Guillaume Olagnier. According to the Turkish ministry, the signing shows that the “positive messages” of the two leaders have turned into a “substantive and concrete step”, as the announcement said at the time.

The focus on Meteor and SAMP/T

The Turkish newspaper Milliyet wrote on Friday, October 9, that the step “resonated” in Greece, putting two weapon systems of interest to Ankara at the centre: the SAMP/T NG air defence system and MBDA’s long-range Meteor air-to-air missile, which arms the Greek Rafales. The article links a possible SAMP/T purchase to Turkey’s multi-layered air defence programme, the “Steel Dome”, and argues that what matters for Ankara is the terms, namely the participation of Turkish industry and the transfer of know-how. On Meteor, Milliyet writes that its adoption by the Turkish Air Force would be a “major blow” to Greek defence. It also names Thales, MBDA and Eurosam as possible partners in radars, missiles and command and control.