Fifty nations gathered in Seferihisar as Türkiye’s largest combined joint live-fire exercise entered its final days, with defense ministers and military chiefs scheduled to watch the final maneuvers on May 20 before EFES 2026 closes on May 21. The drill began on April 20 in the Doğanbey region of Izmir’s Seferihisar district and drew 10,388 personnel into the field, including 1,305 from allied and partner nations.
The exercise put a wide mix of forces on the same ground. The United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom trained alongside Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Malaysia, while Japan, Sweden, Somalia and Rwanda were also among the 50 countries taking part. Syria joined for the first time since the fall of the decadeslong Baathist regime, and rival Libyan military forces from the west and east took part together for the first time.
The weight of the exercise was not just in the number of flags. Baykar’s Bayraktar TB3 unmanned combat aerial vehicle flew sorties directly from TCG Anadolu, Türkiye’s light aircraft carrier, while the Bayraktar Akıncı drone provided intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support throughout the joint operations. Türkiye also demonstrated Steel Dome, its integrated air and missile defense architecture developed entirely by Aselsan, combining the long-range Siper platform with Hisar-A, Hisar-O and Sungur in a layered configuration.
That hardware drew attention at the same time as the live-fire phases themselves. STM showed its KARGU loitering munition swarm capability, with one operator controlling 20 units simultaneously, after what the company said was a landmark live-fire test in January 2026 that it described as a world first. The system was already operationally deployed across 15 countries on four continents.
EFES 2026 also became a sales floor. The Defense Industry Exhibition ran alongside the exercise and brought procurement officials and military delegations to stands hosting more than 50 Turkish defense firms. Turkish Aerospace Industries displayed the Kaan fifth-generation fighter jet, the Hürjet advanced jet trainer and the Anka-3 stealth unmanned combat aircraft, while Aselsan presented its Toygun and Karat electro-optical and infrared targeting systems, both developed indigenously after foreign embargoes on previously imported optics technology.
The closing days matter because EFES 2026 was built to show more than a firing range. It tied together drones, carrier-launched unmanned combat vehicles and a homegrown layered air defense system in front of a multinational audience that was still on site as the drill moved toward its end. For Türkiye, the message on the ground was that its armed forces and defense industry are being presented not separately, but as one package.
