At the SAHA Expo defense exhibition in Istanbul in May 2026, Turkey’s state-owned arms manufacturer Makine ve Kimya Endustrisi (MKE) presented a 105mm weapon system designed to mate proven howitzer firepower with a tactical vehicle chassis. It is not confirmed from available sources whether the vehicle-mounted variant was physically displayed on the exhibition floor or presented through promotional materials such as brochures or video; reporting to date does not distinguish between the two. The concept is built around the company’s existing BORAN lightweight towed howitzer, a gun already in production and rated for helicopter transport. By mounting it on a truck, MKE is pitching a system that can roll into position, fire, and displace in under a minute, precisely the kind of shoot-and-relocate capability that battlefield reporting from Ukraine’s ongoing artillery war has shown is no longer optional but essential for survival against counter-battery radar and drone-directed strikes.
The BORAN foundation
The starting point is the BORAN, formally designated the “105 mm Boran Havadan Tasinabilir Hafif Cekili Obus,” or air-transportable lightweight towed howitzer. According to MKE’s own product listing, the gun fires a 105mm/30-caliber round and can be emplaced in less than one minute. The same page details weight (including fire control system), maximum range, elevation and traverse angles, operating temperature tolerances, and crew size. MKE also describes the BORAN as helicopter-transportable, giving it a logistical edge over heavier towed or self-propelled guns that need flatbed trucks or rail cars to reach forward positions.
Those numbers matter because they define the engineering envelope for any vehicle-mounted adaptation. A gun light enough to sling beneath a helicopter is also light enough to sit on a medium tactical truck or armored chassis without blowing past axle limits. The sub-one-minute emplacement time suggests the weapon already uses a simplified trail and baseplate arrangement, which translates naturally to a pedestal or turntable mount on a truck bed.
Industrial depth behind the display
MKE is not a startup sketching concepts on a whiteboard. A Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) commission transcript (the transcript itself is undated in the linked record, so readers should note that its recency cannot be independently verified from the URL alone) confirms that the company produces 105mm gun and howitzer barrel assemblies as part of Turkey’s defense-industrial base. Barrel production is the most capital-intensive and quality-sensitive step in howitzer manufacturing; a company already making barrels at scale faces far lower technical risk when integrating the same weapon onto a new platform.
Turkey’s government services portal separately lists Makine ve Kimya Endustrisi as a registered state entity. State backing typically means assured domestic procurement orders, which fund the research-and-development pipeline for export variants. For potential foreign buyers, that institutional backing signals that spare parts, ammunition, and long-term support are more likely to remain available over the weapon’s service life than they would be from a privately funded venture dependent on outside capital.
All of this gives the SAHA Expo presentation firmer footing than a one-off concept sketch. The BORAN already exists as a fielded product with a defined logistics chain, and MKE machines the most demanding subcomponents in-house. In practical terms, the vehicle-mounted gun is an incremental evolution: a known 105mm ordnance package mated to a new carriage, a more conservative engineering step than designing an entirely new self-propelled howitzer from scratch.
Where it fits in a crowded market
MKE’s pitch lands in a segment that has grown increasingly competitive. France’s Nexter (now KNDS) fields the 155mm CAESAR truck-mounted howitzer, which has seen combat use in Ukraine and drawn orders from multiple NATO and non-NATO buyers. At the lighter end, AM General and Mandus Group in the United States have mounted a 105mm howitzer on the JLTV platform under the Hawkeye program, targeting rapid-deployment forces that need indirect fire without the logistics tail of a 155mm system. Israel’s Elbit offers the ATMOS family in both 155mm and 105mm configurations.
The 105mm caliber occupies a specific niche. It cannot match the range or destructive radius of 155mm, but it demands less logistical support: lighter shells, smaller propellant charges, and a vehicle that does not need to be a 20-ton-plus platform. For smaller armed forces, border-security units, or rapid-reaction brigades that operate in terrain where heavy self-propelled guns cannot follow, 105mm remains a relevant choice. MKE’s vehicle-mounted BORAN is aimed squarely at those customers.
What remains unconfirmed
The strongest gap in the public record is the absence of a dedicated product page or official specification sheet for the vehicle-mounted variant itself. All verified technical data traces back to the towed BORAN. Key unknowns include how MKE has adapted the recoil system for a vehicle chassis, what class of truck or armored carrier serves as the base platform, and whether the fire control system has been upgraded with digital targeting or GPS-aided pointing. Expo presentations often showcase technology-readiness prototypes rather than production-ready hardware, and no official MKE statement distinguishes between a concept demonstrator and a fielded product in this case. No publicly available quotes from MKE officials, SAHA Expo attendees, or independent defense analysts have been identified to clarify these points.
Rate of fire is another unresolved detail. Towed howitzers and vehicle-mounted guns can differ significantly in sustained fire rates because the vehicle mount must absorb recoil forces that a towed trail transfers into the ground. If the chassis is relatively light, designers may need to limit maximum charge or cadence to prevent structural damage and maintain accuracy. Without published burst and sustained rates for the mounted configuration, potential buyers cannot run a direct comparison against competitors.
Automation levels are also unclear. Some modern truck-mounted artillery systems use semi-automatic loading, powered rammers, or automated laying to reduce crew size and speed up fire missions. The BORAN’s towed-variant data emphasizes rapid emplacement but does not describe automated loading. Whether the vehicle-mounted version replicates the manual drill on a new carriage or introduces mechanical aids has direct implications for manpower planning and training pipelines.
Export pricing, crew training requirements for the mounted version, and any planned integration with Turkish-made ammunition types beyond standard NATO 105mm rounds have not appeared in verified documentation. There is no open-source confirmation of foreign launch customers, framework agreements, or memoranda of understanding tied to this configuration.
How the evidence should be weighted by defense planners
Three tiers of evidence are in play. The strongest is MKE’s own product page for the towed BORAN, which provides manufacturer-verified technical specifications. Any claim that matches those specs, such as the 105mm/30 caliber, the sub-one-minute emplacement, or the air-transport capability, can be treated as confirmed for the towed variant.
The second tier is the TBMM commission transcript. Parliamentary records in Turkey function much like Congressional hearing transcripts in the United States: they capture on-the-record testimony from officials and industry representatives. The transcript’s references to MKE producing 105mm barrel assemblies are institutional evidence of manufacturing capability, not marketing copy. They do not, however, confirm the performance of any specific new product presented at an expo, and they should not be stretched to imply that the vehicle-mounted BORAN has cleared formal trials or entered serial production.
The third tier is contextual. The government portal listing for MKE confirms the company’s legal existence and state ownership but says nothing about individual weapon programs. It is useful for establishing institutional credibility and nothing more.
Turkey’s defense and aerospace exports have been on a steep upward curve in recent years, driven by platforms like the Bayraktar TB2 drone and a growing portfolio of naval and land systems. MKE’s move to offer a vehicle-mounted 105mm howitzer fits that broader strategy: take proven domestic hardware, repackage it for expeditionary or budget-constrained buyers, and leverage Turkey’s reputation for delivering capable systems at price points below Western European or American competitors.
The SAHA Expo presentation signals intent rather than completion. MKE has the industrial base and a proven gun, and it has chosen to showcase a vehicle-mounted configuration aligned with the doctrinal pressures visible in ongoing conflicts, where artillery units that cannot displace within minutes of firing face counter-battery radar and drone-directed strikes. What remains to be seen is how quickly the concept hardens into a catalogued product with transparent specifications, and whether early adopters, domestic or foreign, are willing to underwrite the remaining development steps needed to turn a promising prototype into a repeatable, operational system.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
