Türkiye and Pakistan successfully concluded the 12-day high-intensity joint special operations exercise, AYYILDIZ 2025, a milestone event that went beyond routine bilateral training to showcase operational synergy, strategic signalling, and deepening maritime security cooperation between two pivotal Muslim-majority powers. The exercise highlighted a growing alignment in addressing complex maritime threats across the Indo-Mediterranean security landscape.
Held from December 15 to December 26 at the Turkish Naval Special Operations Command (SAT) base in Istanbul, AYYILDIZ 2025 brought together Türkiye’s elite Su Altı Taarruz (SAT) commandos and the Pakistan Navy’s Special Service Group Navy (SSGN). The exercise united two of the world’s most secretive and battle-tested maritime special forces in a tightly choreographed programme designed to enhance interoperability, sharpen joint mission execution, and refine shared operational doctrine for high-risk maritime contingencies.
As threats in regional maritime theatres continue to evolve—from piracy and grey-zone coercion in the Arabian Sea to asymmetric naval warfare, energy infrastructure contestation, and maritime terrorism in the Eastern Mediterranean—AYYILDIZ 2025 underscored the strategic role of special operations forces. These units are increasingly positioned as the first line of response in contested littoral and blue-water environments where conventional naval power alone may be insufficient.
The exercise unfolded amid accelerating geopolitical volatility. Türkiye is navigating intensifying energy disputes and naval competition in the Eastern Mediterranean, while Pakistan faces persistent non-state maritime threats, submarine proliferation, and strategic rivalry along its Arabian Sea frontage. This dual challenge positioned AYYILDIZ 2025 not merely as a tactical drill but as a rehearsal for future coalition-based maritime security operations, demonstrating a high degree of operational readiness.
By integrating elite operators, platforms, and planning cells from both navies into a single operational ecosystem, the exercise sent a clear message: Ankara and Islamabad are investing in a long-term, high-trust military partnership capable of generating real-world operational effects across multiple maritime theatres. The exercise blended realism, secrecy, and operational stress, showcasing how two geographically distant but strategically aligned navies can
AYYILDIZ, meaning “Crescent and Star” in Turkish, symbolizes the shared national emblems of Türkiye and Pakistan. Since its inception in the late 1990s, the exercise has evolved into one of the most enduring and operationally significant bilateral special forces training programmes outside NATO.
The 2025 iteration reflected a significant maturation, incorporating lessons from contemporary maritime conflict zones, including the Black Sea, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and Eastern Mediterranean. Hosted at the SAT Command base, the exercise leveraged advanced maritime training infrastructure: simulated shipboard environments, containerised “Ship-in-a-Box” assault facilities, live-fire ranges, and integrated air-sea insertion corridors. These facilities allowed operators to replicate the operational stressors typical of maritime interdiction and counter-terror missions.
AYYILDIZ 2025 was deliberately structured to strengthen SAT-SSGN interoperability, refine joint planning and execution, exchange tactical best practices, and validate command-and-control compatibility under time-compressed, intelligence-driven scenarios. Participants underwent combat firing drills, sniper operations, Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) missions, helicopter fast-roping onto moving vessels, underwater frogman operations, and coordinated maritime counter-terrorism scenarios involving multiple insertion vectors.
A defining feature of this year’s exercise was the deliberate integration of mixed Turkish-Pakistani assault teams, requiring operators to rely on shared NATO-influenced tactics and universal special operations principles. The culmination featured a high-visibility VBSS demonstration combining surface combatants, rotary-wing aviation, and high-speed insertion craft, validating seamless cross-domain operations.
While no official budget was disclosed, defence analysts estimate that a 12-day high-end special operations exercise of this scale, incorporating live-fire, aviation assets, specialised maritime platforms, and elite personnel, would conservatively exceed US$6–8 million (approximately RM28–37 million), highlighting the strategic priority both governments attach to this partnership.
At the core of AYYILDIZ 2025 were two elite maritime special operations units with reputations forged through decades of rigorous training and operational deployment.
Türkiye’s SAT, established in 1963, is the premier offensive maritime special operations force of the Turkish Naval Forces, often compared to the U.S. Navy SEALs. SAT commandos specialize in underwater demolition, reconnaissance, direct action, counter-terrorism, and clandestine maritime assaults. Their doctrine, shaped by Cold War maritime confrontations and post-Cold War regional conflicts, emphasizes precision operations across the Aegean, Black Sea, and Eastern Mediterranean. SAT operators undergo demanding selection and training—including HALO/HAHO parachuting, advanced combat diving, close-quarters battle, sniper operations, and maritime interdiction—producing a force optimized for high-risk missions requiring political deniability and operational precision.
The Pakistani SSGN, established in 1966, serves as the Pakistan Navy’s principal maritime unconventional warfare force. Tasked with clandestine insertions, VBSS, maritime counter-terrorism, and strategic reconnaissance, SSGN operators undergo one of the world’s most attritional training pipelines, with reported attrition rates exceeding 80 percent. With extensive operational experience from port defense, counter-insurgency operations, and protection of critical naval infrastructure, SSGN embodies Pakistan’s strategic imperative to secure its maritime approaches and counter hybrid threats in the Arabian Sea.
The pairing of SAT and SSGN represents not just symbolic cooperation but the convergence of two battle-hardened maritime special operations cultures shaped by complementary strategic imperatives.
AYYILDIZ 2025 is a tactical manifestation of a deeper Türkiye-Pakistan strategic relationship, which dates back to 1947 and has been reinforced through shared geopolitical interests, ideological affinities, and converging security challenges. Bilateral defense cooperation, formalized through the 1954 Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation and strengthened during the Cold War under CENTO, spans naval, air, land, and defense industrial collaboration.
Naval collaboration has been central, beginning with the Turgutreis exercises in the 1960s and evolving to include anti-submarine warfare, maritime interdiction, and special operations. A landmark development was Türkiye’s US$1.5 billion MILGEM corvette program for Pakistan, the largest Turkish defense export to date, which enhanced Pakistan Navy’s surface warfare capability and embedded Turkish naval design philosophy in its future fleet.
Aviation and training cooperation further reinforce the partnership, with Pakistan providing F-16 training support for Turkish pilots, while both nations explore collaboration on Türkiye’s next-generation TAI TF Kaan fighter program. Participation in multinational exercises such as Doğu Akdeniz-2025 and Pakistan’s involvement in the AMAN exercises highlight the expanding multilateral dimension of this bilateral alignment.
The conferment of Türkiye’s Legion of Merit on Pakistan Navy Chief Admiral Naveed Ashraf in August 2025 further underscored the political and institutional depth of the defense partnership.
From the opening phase, AYYILDIZ 2025 emphasized operational realism. Combat firing drills tested marksmanship under stress, sniper modules evaluated precision engagement from unstable maritime platforms, and VBSS operations tested rapid, multi-point breaches on hostile vessels. Underwater frogman operations required exceptional endurance and navigational skill, while joint planning cells integrated intelligence, logistics, and command-control processes into unified mission plans.
Bilingual briefings and mixed command teams enhanced communication discipline, cognitive agility, and coalition readiness—key attributes for future joint operations. By the conclusion, SAT and SSGN units had demonstrated their ability to function as a single operational entity across multiple mission sets.
The strategic implications of AYYILDIZ 2025 extend beyond bilateral cooperation. For Türkiye, deepening special operations collaboration enhances its reach into the Indian Ocean region and reinforces its role as a regional security provider. For Pakistan, engagement with Turkish maritime special forces complements naval modernization efforts, strengthens interoperability with NATO-adjacent standards, and enhances capabilities against hybrid maritime threats.
Improved SAT–SSGN interoperability contributes to the security of global sea lines of communication, energy transit routes, and critical chokepoints increasingly threatened by piracy, terrorism, and grey-zone activities. As hybrid warfare evolves to include unmanned systems, cyber-enabled maritime sabotage, and information operations, exercises like AYYILDIZ provide a flexible platform for adapting doctrine to emerging threats.
Future iterations are expected to integrate unmanned surface and underwater systems, cyber-maritime operations, and expanded multinational participation, further enhancing the exercise’s strategic relevance.
As a defence official emphasized, exercises like AYYILDIZ are essential for “effective, rapid coordination” in joint operations, while Pakistan Navy notes that the objective is “to build synergy, strengthen military relationships and enhance interoperability between Special Operations Forces.”
In an era defined by great-power competition, contested seas, and persistent hybrid threats, AYYILDIZ 2025 stands as a clear demonstration that Türkiye and Pakistan are not merely training together but actively shaping a shared maritime security architecture grounded in trust, capability, and operational readiness.
