CANiK on the Spanish stage

Samsun Yurt Savunma (SYS Grup), one of Türkiye's leading defense industry groups, will leave its mark on the International Defense Industry Fair (FEINDEF 2025) to be held in Madrid between May 12-14 with its CANiK, AEI Systems and UNIROBOTICS brands.

SYS Group, led by CANiK, has now turned its route to Europe after the high interaction and successful business meetings it achieved at the LAAD Defence & Security 2025 fair, the largest defence industry organisation in the South American continent.

The fair, which is held at a time when defense industry relations between Turkey, Spain and Portugal are strengthening, is a strategic showcase for SYS Group. On this occasion, the Group aims to strengthen sustainable collaborations in the European market with its 30x113mm weapon system and other innovative solutions.

CANiK will be exhibiting at the fair not only as a weapons manufacturer but also as a technology leader offering remote-controlled weapon systems (RCWS) and integrated solutions. The TRAKON series RCWS developed by UNIROBOTICS create a force multiplier against low-altitude threats in the modern combat environment with their platform-independent modular structures, compatibility with different calibers and integration with the UAV Countermeasure System (C-UAS).

SYS Group has been developing new projects with Spanish integrator companies and ammunition manufacturers for a long time. It is strengthening its cooperation with Spanish industry in areas such as VENOM LR and 30x113mm systems, ammunition compatibility tests, platform integrations and field trials.

The Defense Industry Cooperation Letter of Intent signed between Turkey and Spain in 2017 has become one of the cornerstones of strategic trust between the two countries. While the cooperation with Spanish Navantia in the TCG ANADOLU project constitutes a successful example in the field of naval platforms; the HÜRJET Jet Training Aircraft Memorandum of Understanding announced at the end of 2024 includes the supply of 24 HÜRJETs and the participation of domestic industry in the modernization of the Spanish Air Force. On the other hand, the Portuguese Navy’s agreement with the Turkish company STM for 2 modern warships has taken the Turkish-Portuguese defense cooperation to a new dimension.

Aral stated that the countries in question are not only friendly and allied countries, but also growing markets of strategic importance in the defense industry, and continued as follows:

CANiK is the world-famous firearms brand of Samsun Yurt Savunma (SYS), to which it is affiliated, and is a global defense industry company with Turkish owners and main production facilities in Turkey, the USA and the UK. SYS was founded in 1998 as the representative of the Samsun leg of the Eastern Black Sea Weapon Project initiated under the leadership of the state. In the intervening years, SYS has become one of the important organizations of the Turkish defense industry in the field of weapon, weapon accessories, weapon system design and production with the CANiK brand. Headquartered in Istanbul, SYS continues its activities with a total of 7 production facilities, including 1 in Istanbul, 4 in Samsun, 1 in the South Florida region of the USA and 1 in the UK, with more than 1,000 multinational employees. Managed by the Aral Family, SYS made its name known to the world in the small arms market with the CANiK brand. SYS has an annual production capacity of 460 thousand pistols, 5,000 anti-aircraft guns in its facilities in Turkey and the USA, 250 medium caliber cannons in its facilities in the UK and Türkiye, and 250 fire control systems in its facilities in Türkiye. Today, it is one of the 3 companies in the world that can produce 30x113 mm caliber guns. With its radar integration, this weapon is the most effective solution against drones, unmanned surface kamikaze platforms and light armored vehicles. AEI Systems, a SYS Group company that produces 20, 25 and 30 mm guns for British warplanes in its facility in the UK, also produces low-recoil 20 mm and 30 mm guns to be integrated into remote-controlled systems for land and naval platforms. The company, which exports 95 percent of its production in Türkiye to 70 countries, has been conducting its activities in the USA through the company it founded, CANiK USA, since 2010; In 2020 and 2021, it became the third company that exported the most handguns from the world to the United States, and in 2021, it was awarded by the SSB as Türkiye's largest exporter in the Barreled Weapons category. In 2022 and 2023, it took its place as the only private sector arms manufacturer among Türkiye's top 10 defense industry exporters. In addition, it is preferred as an official weapon by the relevant institutions of 24 countries in the world 'within the scope of state tenders'. SYS, which is a partner in many domestic and national defense industry projects, from original domestic handguns to national anti-aircraft production, continues its work as a worldwide defense industry company.