Turkey tests mid-range air defense system

ISTANBUL – Anadolu Agency

The Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Işık has reviewed a test for Turkey-made medium-altitude air defense missile Hisar-O which is expected to meet the needs of the Turkish Land Forces Command.         

“We have many systems developed by Roketsan and Havelsan corporations,” Işık told the project’s engineers after a test was conducted in the Central Anatolian province of Aksaray. 

“Now there is an intense effort to proceed to more advanced systems. Today we tested the launch of the Hisar system,” he said. 

Hisar is a defense weapon developed by leading Turkish defense firms Roketsan and Aselsan aimed to protect military bases, ports, facilities and troops against aerial threats.        

 “Their targets are military aircrafts, helicopters, navigation missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, with a maximum range of 25 kilometers,” Roketsan’s website stated.        

 “Turkey has to achieve and develop critical technologies in both air and missile defense systems. Turkey actually has made considerable progress despite its late start. I believe after that we will get faster,” Işık said. 

He added that Turkey’s long-range air and missile defense systems could act as a deter-rent force in the region.

“No country could look hostilely at us if we have our own strong defense systems,” he added.

Hisar’s radar, command control and fire control systems were developed by Aselsan, and its missile systems, which will meet low- and medium-altitude air defense requirements of the Turkish Armed Forces, were developed by Roketsan.        

The Hisar-O’s first unarmed test was carried out in 2014 in Aksaray.

Meanwhile, the Hisar-A, a low-altitude version of the defense system, was initiated in 2011 and is expected to be delivered to the Turkish Armed Forces by 2020.        

Turkey’s air defense security has become a subject of current interest since its military units without forceful ground-to-air defense systems entered Syria as part of the Operation Euphrates Shield that began on Aug. 24 to rid Syria’s northern border area of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militants.        

Turkey is actively using pedestal-mounted stinger systems, known as Atılgan and Zıpkın, with a maximum range of 8 kilometers, and is using Stinger missiles for very short-range air defense targeting low-altitude air vehicles.