Turkish Air Force gets new electronic warfare system from ASELSAN

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

AA photo

Turkey’s leading defense system producer ASELSAN has handed over its newly developed and locally produced land-based radar electronic attack system KORAL to the Turkish Air Force.

A handing over ceremony was held at the defense company’s Gölbaşı facility in the capital Ankara, attended by Turkish Air Force commander Abidin Ünal.        

The transportable attack system has the ability to jam, deceive and paralyze hostile radars. It also “analyses multi-target signals and automatically or manually generates an appropriate response,” according to ASELSAN.        

“We are happy that we developed this system - which a limited number of countries in the world have in their inventories - for our army though our domestic possibilities,” said ASELSAN General Manager Faik Eken during the ceremony.        

Defense Industry Undersecretary İsmail Demir highlighted the importance of electronic systems amid crises around the world.

“We’ve seen how important electronic warfare is in the recent wars … We have full determination to continue existing efforts to equip our security forces with the most modern weapons,” Demir said.

Turkey has increased its efforts in recent years to eliminate dependency on external suppliers for its defense industry. Ankara spent over $1 billion on defense, research and development in 2014, making defense the sector with the largest research and developmental investment in the country.        

The top export items are aircraft, helicopter parts, engines, armored-land vehicles, speed boats, missiles, rockets, launching platforms, light weapons and electronic systems, including transmitters, simulators, sensors and software.