HAVELSAN Signs Defence Tech MoU With Nigeria’s DICON
HAVELSAN has signed a memorandum of understanding with Nigeria’s Defence Industries Corporation (DICON), the latest step in Türkiye’s push to turn one-off arms sales in Africa into longer-term industrial partnerships. The agreement was signed at the inaugural Africa International Defence Exhibition (AFRIDEX) in Lagos, which ran from 26 to 29 October, with HAVELSAN making the announcement on 29 October, Türkiye’s national day.
The MoU sets out a framework for cooperation across six areas: command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR); simulation and training; unmanned and autonomous systems; information and communication technologies; integrated security solutions; and cybersecurity. Neither side named specific programmes, systems or a contract value, and the agreement itself creates no binding commercial obligation — it sets out where the two sides intend to look for projects, not what they have agreed to build.
“Build Together, Produce Together”
HAVELSAN Vice President Şevket Ünal summarised the company’s approach in a statement: “Our model is very simple: Build together, produce together, and sustain together.” HAVELSAN said the agreement reflected its commitment to expanding international partnerships and that it was looking forward to “translating this shared vision into tangible projects.”
The MoU builds on ground HAVELSAN has already covered in Nigeria. The company’s ADVENT combat management system was sold to the Nigerian Navy as part of a frigate project delivered by a Turkish shipbuilder, and HAVELSAN has also supplied the BAHA unmanned aerial vehicle and shooting simulators to Nigerian customers. ADVENT now runs aboard Turkish warships and recently picked up its first NATO customer, giving HAVELSAN a reference system it can point to when pitching naval combat management abroad.
Nigeria’s Localisation Push
The MoU was preceded by a Türkiye–Nigeria industrial cooperation panel on 28 October covering joint development, manufacturing, investment, technology transfer and workforce training. Nigeria has been explicit about what it wants from foreign partners: production capacity it can draw on domestically, not just finished equipment. Türkiye and Nigeria have already been moving from arms sales toward joint manufacturing in other programmes, and DICON has said it is targeting investment, industrial partnerships and practical production outcomes from AFRIDEX rather than one-off purchases.
The scale of the gap Nigeria is trying to close was underlined by Nigeria’s Minister of State for Defence, Dr Bello Muhammed Matawalle, who told the exhibition that domestic industry currently produces a little over 50 million rounds of ammunition a year against a national requirement of roughly 300 million. That shortfall is a large part of why Abuja is courting manufacturing partners rather than simply shopping for hardware, and why a technology-sharing MoU — rather than a specific sale — was the headline outcome of HAVELSAN’s trip to Lagos.
Part of a Wider African Push
STM led the Turkish pavilion at AFRIDEX 2026, presenting naval platforms and autonomous systems alongside HAVELSAN’s own stand. Other defence establishments used the show for their own outreach: Italy held defence cooperation talks on the sidelines, and Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff met delegations from Poland and US Africa Command. For HAVELSAN, the Nigeria MoU adds to a growing list of African engagements that also includes work in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, part of a broader pattern of Turkish firms following up equipment sales with training and support relationships rather than walking away after delivery.
Nothing here commits either side to a specific project, and HAVELSAN has not disclosed when it expects the MoU to produce an actual contract. The company’s own description of the next step — identifying mutually beneficial projects — suggests that is still being worked out. But for a Turkish defence electronics company whose order book already stretches from NATO navies to Gulf air forces, a cybersecurity and C4ISR framework with Africa’s most populous country is worth having in place before the next tender appears, even without a figure attached to it yet.
Sources: DefenceWeb; HAVELSAN statement, 29 October 2026.
