Türkiye’s MKE Unveils New NATO-Compatible CBRN Protective Gear for High-Tempo Operations.

On 4 February 2026, Turkey’s state-owned defense firm Makine ve Kimya Endüstrisi announced a new NATO-compliant CBRN protective equipment range developed in-house to protect personnel operating in contaminated environments. The move highlights renewed emphasis across NATO on individual protection and endurance as chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear risks re-enter mainstream operational planning.

Makine ve Kimya Endüstrisi (MKE) said its newly developed CBRN protective equipment portfolio is designed to improve survivability while allowing military units to sustain operational tempo under chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear threat conditions. According to the company, the equipment was developed using MKE’s internal research and development infrastructure and is intended to meet NATO interoperability and performance standards, positioning it for use by both Turkish forces and allied or partner militaries facing similar contamination risks.
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Türkiye’s MKE unveils NATO-compliant CBRN protective gear, highlighting renewed alliance focus on troop survivability and endurance. (Picture source: MKE)

MKE frames its approach around modern protective clothing engineered as multi-layer systems using active carbon technology. The company states that these solutions are fully NATO-compliant and designed for demanding operational conditions, with priorities including ergonomics, mobility, and sustained wear. The product family is structured around two functional layer technologies and four different models, offering eight distinct product configurations tailored to diverse mission profiles and user requirements. This modular approach is particularly relevant for forces that must equip a wide range of roles, including mechanized infantry, CBRN reconnaissance teams, logistics elements, and medical evacuation personnel, without imposing a single uniform protection level that could reduce comfort and performance outside contaminated phases.

The announcement highlights a dedicated respiratory protection element, the CBRN Nefes Mask, positioned as a central component of the protective architecture. MKE states that the mask features low aerosol permeability and an anti-fog panoramic visor, an operationally relevant detail in contaminated environments where visibility degradation is a recurring limitation. The company further specifies that the mask operates reliably in temperatures ranging from -30°C to +50°C, indicating a design requirement aligned with expeditionary deployments and cold-weather operations as much as desert conditions. In practical terms, that temperature envelope suggests an effort to maintain seal integrity, airflow performance, and visor usability across varied climates rather than optimizing for a narrow theater.

Complementing the mask, MKE describes CBRN Protective Gloves intended to combine high chemical resistance with enhanced fingertip sensitivity. This balance matters in operational reality, since the ability to manipulate weapon controls, radios, vehicle interfaces, and medical equipment while wearing protective gloves often determines whether a unit can continue operating effectively or becomes slowed by procedural constraints. MKE explicitly links the glove design to maintaining operational control even in adverse conditions such as rain, mud, and low temperatures, suggesting a focus on real-world friction rather than purely laboratory assumptions.

For mobility, the company introduces a CBRN Protective Overboot, described as chemically resistant with an adjustable design intended to support personnel movement and safety on wet surfaces, contaminated terrain, and under harsh field conditions. Overboots are frequently overlooked in public discussions of CBRN readiness, yet they are critical for sustaining maneuver and limiting contamination transfer into vehicles, shelters, or medical stations. By emphasizing wet terrain and difficult field environments, MKE addresses a persistent operational vulnerability of protective ensembles: the tendency for slipping, fatigue, and reduced foot stability to degrade unit cohesion and pace under stress.

Beyond individual items, MKE presents its protective garments as engineered barrier systems designed to counter warfare agents in vapor, liquid, and particulate forms, while maintaining ergonomics and freedom of movement during tactical activity. The press release notes that critical contact areas such as knees, elbows, back, and other high-wear zones are specially reinforced, reflecting attention to durability during crawling, urban movement, vehicle entry and exit, and casualty handling. The garments are also described as suitable for safe, long-term use in extreme heat, severe cold, and challenging environmental conditions, an important factor for sustained operations where protection cannot be treated as a short-duration emergency measure.

MKE further specifies that double-layer protection is applied to wrist and ankle areas to increase security against liquid and vapor threats. These interface zones are commonly recognized as weak points where contamination can penetrate through gaps created by movement and repeated handling. In addition, the company integrates an emergency evacuation carry handle into the back section of the garment, designed to support rapid intervention and casualty evacuation in operational environments. This design choice points to practical battlefield requirements, where extraction under CBRN conditions is both a medical and maneuver challenge, and where exposure time directly affects survivability and mission continuity.

MKE’s announcement fits into a wider recalibration of defense priorities as NATO and partner states revisit high-intensity conflict assumptions and the renewed salience of CBRN risk in deterrence planning. Protective equipment is rarely as politically visible as missiles or combat vehicles, yet it remains foundational to credible resilience, especially for forces expected to operate in contested environments where escalation dynamics may include contamination threats, industrial sabotage, or deliberate chemical agent use. By positioning its solutions as NATO-compliant and configurable for diverse mission profiles, MKE signals both industrial ambition and strategic alignment, while reinforcing the role of Türkiye’s defense industrial base in supplying not only kinetic systems but also survivability tools underpinning readiness and operational endurance across alliance-relevant scenarios.