Turkey’s Blueprint: Borrowing Iran’s Dome‑Piercing Playbook for Defence Sovereignty

According to Saed News, General Hulusi Akar—former Chief of Turkey’s Joint Chiefs of Staff and current member of Parliament—praised the performance of Iranian air‑defence systems in a recent broadcast on a Turkish news network. “Iran has perforated Israel’s Iron Dome, and God willing it will be pierced far more,” Akar declared, provoking both admiration for Tehran’s asymmetric tactics and calls for Turkey to achieve military self‑reliance.

Akar underscored Ankara’s frustrations with Western procurement shortcomings. Recalling that Turkey paid for F‑35 fighters “but never received them,” he scorned foreign suppliers as “unreliable.” “We built our own aircraft, developed native air‑defence, and soon we will manufacture our own artillery and tanks,” he proclaimed, framing defence independence as both a strategic imperative and national pride project.

Analysts observe that Turkey’s pivot toward domestic armaments is not new: over the past decade, Ankara has invested heavily in drones, missile systems and naval vessels. Yet Akar’s public comparison to Iran signals an intriguing alignment with a fellow non‑NATO power that has successfully leveraged indigenous expertise to counter high‑end Western weaponry. While Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps has demonstrated cost‑effective methods to overwhelm layered defences, Turkey aims to institutionalise a similar model within its military‑industrial complex.

Whether Ankara can replicate Tehran’s asymmetric successes remains to be seen. Nonetheless, Akar’s remarks crystallise a broader shift in regional security: a growing conviction that true deterrence lies not in imported platforms but in homegrown ingenuity and strategic autonomy.