As weapon systems developed by Baykar, Aselsan, Roketsan, Turkish Aerospace (TUSAŞ), and the Defense Ministry R&D Center dominate the agenda in Turkey, a private company near Çorum with a history of only six years, ARCA Defense, has become the hidden leader of the sector.
“With the contracts we have signed, we have registered our market leadership in ammunition technology. We have risen to a playmaker position in the global ammunition market,” ARCA said on May 7.
The contract performance displayed by ARCA at the international defense, aerospace, and space industry exhibition SAHA Istanbul EXPO 2026, eluded the media's attention. While the total value of new agreements recorded at the expo reached $8 billion, Haluk Bayraktar, SAHA Istanbul Chair, mentioned between the lines of his statements regarding the fair that ARCA signed $4.3 billion — more than half — of this total.
US, BULGARIA, ESTONIA
ARCA signed a production facility contract with the Estonian Defense Ministry. Long-range artillery ammunition will be manufactured at the factory that the company will establish in Estonia under the ARCA Baltic brand, employing approximately 1,000 workers.
In addition, ARCA signed artillery ammunition contracts worth $2.2 billion with Bulgaria-based VTIC, one of the weapon suppliers in the international market, and $1.2 billion with US-based Global Military Products (GMP).
Marc Morales, the CEO of GMP — a subsidiary of the Global Ordnance Company — is known as an American businessperson who supplies ammunition to conflict zones worldwide and has rapidly increased his fortune in recent years. The company is particularly noted for supplying large quantities of weapons to Ukraine.
The 155 mm artillery ammunition, which is among ARCA’s products, is the most widely used ammunition type in the Russia-Ukraine war. ARCA had also signed a contract with the US Department of Defense in 2024, selling 116,000 units of 155 mm ammunition.
CLIMBING TO THE TOP OF EXPORTS IN 5 YEARS
Established in 2020 in Ankara's Başkent Organized Industrial Zone, ARCA also began production at a new factory in the Sungurlu region of Çorum in 2022. The company, which produces rocket, mortar, and artillery ammunition, became Turkey's top exporting company in the defense and aerospace industry sector in 2025 with an amount of $10.54 billion, surpassing institutions such as Baykar, Aselsan, Roketsan, and MKE (Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation).
The three partners of ARCA are İsmail Terlemez, Savaş Balçık (owner of Balkar Group), and Leman Özgür Rodoplu, who also serves on the board of SAHA Istanbul led by Baykar Holding.
“While working as an ammunition captain in the Turkish Armed Forces, I left and founded ARCA with two friends in 2020. To date, we have invested $550 million in Sungurlu. We purchased the 1-million-square-meter land ourselves and used no government incentives while building the factory,” Terlemez said.
The company exports ammunition to the US, the Netherlands, the UK, Czechia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Lithuania, and announced in 2024 that it produces more artillery shells on their own in Çorum than what is produced in the entire American continent.
An important milestone regarding the company's rapid rise story was identified by CHP MP Özgür Ceylan in 2021. ARCA’s sister company, NEPSA, was established in June 2020 and signed a contract with the state-owned MKE just six months later. Becoming a subcontractor through this agreement, NEPSA started producing bullets and cartridges for MKE with a purchase guarantee of 120 million units. Production was carried out at MKE's factory, and 50 million empty shell casings were donated to the company.
TARGETING THE SUPER LEAGUE
ARCA sponsors Çorum FK, the football team owned by Balçık. Another sponsor of the club is GDH Digital (Gündeme Dair Herşey), a media company close to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's son-in-law Selçuk Bayraktar and his brother Haluk Bayraktar.
Founded in 2018, ARCA Çorum FK has risen alongside ARCA Defense and will face Esenler Erokspor in the play-off final match on May 24 with the goal of promotion to the top echelon Süper Lig.
Esenler Erokspor is the team at which Erdoğan played football in his youth, and it serves as the feeder team for Süper Lig club Istanbul Başakşehir FK. On the other hand, Balçık had recently served as an executive in the AKP Şişli district organization, and his company Balkar sponsored Istanbul Başakşehir FK.
THE INVESTIGATIONS HAVE BEEN CLOSED
Last year, Terlemez was implicated in a bribery investigation within the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) in Luxembourg.
Terlemez, who was detained in prison for two months in Belgium, was released following the meeting Erdoğan held with US President Donald Trump on June 24, 2025, during the NATO Summit in The Hague. It was reflected in the press that the international investigation in question was closed by the US Department of Justice (DOJ). Morales, with whom ARCA signed an agreement at SAHA EXPO, had also been accused of bribing Gabon Defense Ministry officials in 2010 but was acquitted in 2012.
