Turkey’s primary arms manufacturer, Makine ve Kimya Endüstrisi A.Ş. (MKE), put a new 105mm truck-mounted gun called the URAN on public display for the first time at SAHA Expo 2026 in Istanbul, signaling the company’s entry into a fast-growing segment of the global artillery market. The system appeared on the expo floor during opening day in late May 2026, drawing attention from defense media and foreign delegations circulating through one of Turkey’s largest defense and aerospace exhibitions.
SAHA Expo and MKE’s presence
SAHA Expo, organized by the SAHA Istanbul Defense and Aerospace Cluster, has grown into a major showcase for Turkey’s defense industry, attracting hundreds of domestic and international exhibitors. MKE confirmed its participation in a statement on its corporate website, noting that product displays were underway from the event’s opening. The announcement covers MKE’s full booth portfolio and does not single out the URAN by name, but expo floor reporting from defense trade outlets has consistently identified the 105mm system as a featured item at the company’s stand.
MKE operates as a joint-stock company under state ownership, housed within the Turkey Wealth Fund’s industrial holdings. Its profile on the national e-government portal lists its mandate as producing ammunition, explosives, and weapons systems for the Turkish Armed Forces and allied buyers. That institutional backing matters: when MKE chooses to display a new weapon publicly, it typically reflects at least an internal judgment that the system has reached a meaningful stage of development.
What the URAN brings to the table
Based on available expo reporting, the URAN is a 105mm gun designed to be mounted on light tactical vehicles, giving ground forces a mobile fire-support option that can shoot and relocate before enemy counter-battery systems or surveillance drones can fix its position. The concept addresses a lesson reinforced by recent conflicts in Ukraine and elsewhere: static or slow-moving artillery has become dangerously vulnerable to precision strikes, loitering munitions, and drone-directed counter-fire.
A truck-mounted 105mm gun sits in a specific tactical niche. It is lighter and faster than a traditional towed howitzer or a heavy self-propelled system like Turkey’s own T-155 Fırtına, but it fires a smaller round with less destructive power. The trade-off is speed. Units equipped with vehicle-mounted guns of this caliber can keep pace with mechanized infantry, deploy on roads and trails that would bog down heavier platforms, and reposition within minutes of firing.
MKE is not entering an empty market. The United States has fielded the AM General Hawkeye 105mm mobile weapon system, and France’s Nexter (now part of KNDS) offers lighter variants of its CAESAR truck-mounted howitzer family. Israel, South Africa, and China have also developed competing concepts. The URAN’s commercial prospects will depend on factors that remain undisclosed: its maximum range, rate of fire, recoil management, compatible vehicle platforms, and price point relative to established alternatives.
Key unknowns
MKE has not published a product datasheet, technical brochure, or procurement announcement for the URAN as of late May 2026. The 105mm caliber and the “URAN” designation circulate in defense trade press, but the company’s own published materials from SAHA 2026 refer only to its general participation. Specific performance data, including range, fire-control system details, and the list of vehicle chassis the gun can be integrated onto, has not appeared in any primary MKE document available at the time of reporting.
No country has publicly signed a letter of intent, memorandum of understanding, or contract for the system. Defense expos are common venues for such announcements, and MKE has used past exhibitions to publicize export agreements, but nothing of the sort has surfaced in connection with the URAN at SAHA 2026.
It is also unclear where the URAN fits within Turkey’s own force structure. The Turkish Land Forces already operate the T-155 Fırtına for heavy self-propelled fire and the T-300 Kasırga for rocket artillery. Whether the military has issued a formal requirement for a lighter, vehicle-mounted 105mm gun, or whether MKE developed the URAN primarily with export customers in mind, has not been addressed in any available official source.
Operational doctrine is another open question. A vehicle-mounted 105mm system can be optimized for direct fire in support of infantry, indirect fire as light artillery, or a hybrid role. Without official concept-of-operations documents, it is difficult to determine whether MKE envisions the URAN replacing towed howitzers, complementing heavier self-propelled guns, or equipping rapid-reaction and special operations forces that need organic fire support on short notice.
Turkey’s defense export ambitions
The URAN’s debut comes during a period of aggressive growth for Turkey’s defense exports. Turkish armed drones, armored vehicles, and munitions have found buyers across Africa, Central Asia, the Gulf, and Eastern Europe over the past several years, and Ankara has made defense sales a pillar of its foreign policy and industrial strategy. A competitive vehicle-mounted artillery system could open doors in markets where armies want modern fire support but cannot afford or logistically sustain heavy self-propelled howitzers.
MKE’s careers page lists active openings in weapons engineering and production roles, consistent with a company expanding its development pipeline, though no specific vacancy can be tied directly to the URAN program without internal confirmation.
What to watch for next
The clearest next milestone would be an official MKE product page or technical brochure for the URAN, which would move the system from expo-floor curiosity to documented capability. A named customer or integration contract with a vehicle manufacturer would go further, establishing that the gun has a path to serial production and fielding. Until those markers appear, the URAN is best understood as an emerging system from a credible state-backed manufacturer: worth tracking seriously, but not yet fully characterized in the public record.
For now, MKE has planted a flag. The company wants the global defense market to know it is competing in vehicle-mounted artillery, and SAHA Expo 2026 was the stage it chose to make that clear.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
