China and Turkey have reportedly started sending heavy military transport aircraft to Pakistan. Reports suggest that the movement of military aircraft from China and Turkey to Pakistan has increased significantly over the past few weeks. In the third week of August 2026, heavy military cargo aircraft from the two countries made frequent trips to several Pakistan Air Force (PAF) bases over a period of approximately two and a half days.

According to sources close to a top Pakistani security agency, Chinese aircraft landed at the Nur Khan PAF Base near Rawalpindi and Masroor PAF Base in Karachi. Several Turkish military aircraft operated out of Pakistani bases, as well. The local media reported that drones and other defence equipment were being transported on those aircraft.

It may be noted that Pakistan maintains cordial diplomatic relations with both Turkey and China. Islamabad has long been dependent on Beijing for military equipment. The South Asian nation previously acquired fighter jets, air defence systems and military drones from China. Defence ties between Beijing and Islamabad have deepened since the India-Pakistan clash in 2025. China has even acknowledged that Pakistan received technical assistance from entities associated with the Chinese aviation industry during the conflict.

Pakistan also shares a deep, formalised defence partnership with Turkey as Islamabad imports drones, and naval and space technologies from Ankara. Pakistan Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu visited Turkey in May 2026 to meet top defence officials, including Turkish Air Force Commander General Ziya Cemal Kadıoğlu, Defence Minister Yaşar Güler and Baykar Technologies CTO Selçuk Bayraktar, in an attempt to advance bilateral aerospace collaboration and joint military training.

The deep defence partnership between Pakistan and Turkey recently expanded into the trilateral Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, signed alongside Saudi Arabia on August 7, 2026. This pact treats an armed attack on any member as an attack on all three countries, cementing extensive cooperation in military hardware, joint production and strategic coordination. Amidst such a situation, defence experts consider the arrival of Turkish military aircraft at Pakistani bases to be significant.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das