Defense software company closely follows NATO programs to expand its technology contribution, says Mehmet Akif Nacar

ANKARA / ISTANBUL

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.

“In the coming years, we see that we can make more technology transfers to NATO countries. This is an important step for us and a key indicator for the development of Turkish defense industry technologies,” he added.

Nacar said Havelsan develops technologies suited to the future operational environment in simulation, command and control, cybersecurity technologies, military software and system integration for the Turkish Armed Forces as well as global partners.

Pointing to the importance of NATO countries for Havelsan, he recalled that the company exported network planning software to NATO last year in the field of tactical data link management centers and signed its first contracts with the alliance.

Nacar also underlined NATO’s annual Coalition Warrior Interoperability eXploration, eXperimentation, eXamination, eXercise, or CWIX, saying HAVELSAN participates intensively every year.

“This is an exercise where many NATO member countries participate and evaluate, certify and test interoperability by integrating various modules, software and systems,” he said.

“Our products were tested and certified there this year as well. In terms of software interoperability, integration, communication between systems and data links, we prepare the technologies we develop in line with NATO requirements and export them to relevant countries,” he added.

Nacar said Havelsan developed a coast guard surveillance system for a Black Sea country, while in simulation and simulator technologies it provides training and simulation systems under the Hurjet project signed between Turkish Aerospace Industries and Spain.

He said the world is increasingly discussing multi-domain and joint operations, adding that modeling, impact analysis, simulation and real-time use of such operations on the battlefield have become more prominent.

The integration of Havelsan’s products, from simulation infrastructure to information technology infrastructure, creates major synergy across air, land and sea domains, Nacar said.

As a result, the company has developed software to control the joint operational domain and recommends these systems to NATO countries, he added.

AI-supported products

Nacar stressed that next-generation battle management systems should be supported by artificial intelligence, noting that Havelsan introduced AI-supported products at IDEF 2025 and SAHA 2026.

He said the company uses MAIN, Havelsan’s own AI algorithm and transformer model infrastructure, in these products.

“Defense needs require an AI system that is not very open to the outside and where data is shared less. In line with these requirements, we are developing a closed-loop AI system,” Nacar said.

He added that large amounts of data coming from the field, sensors, radars and munitions need to be processed, evaluated and interpreted to provide decision support for operational needs, and when necessary, to sustain systems capable of making autonomous decisions.

“The world is discussing this. These issues are also being discussed in NATO sessions today,” he said.

“We are updating our technological infrastructure in line with next-generation AI-supported command and control, modeling and simulation environments, and we are carrying out international cooperation in this field,” he added.