A new battery of Türkiye's nationally developed long-range missile system has been added to the military inventory, officials announced on Jan. 4, marking the latest expansion of the country’s Steel Dome air-defense network.
The delivery of the Siper system follows a test launch in November, when a Block 1 interceptor struck a target at a test site in the Black Sea province of Sinop.
"For our heroic army, which grows stronger with each production, we are adding these strategic systems, developed with national resources, to the inventory one by one," Defense Industries Agency (SSB) head Haluk Görgün said on X.
The Steel Dome project, launched in August 2024, is an effort to synchronize Türkiye's domestically produced weapons, radar arrays and command-and-control units into a single integrated network. The project moved into its initial field deployment phase last year.
Developed through a partnership between defense firms Aselsan and Roketsan, along with the Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Institution (TÜBİTAK), the Siper system is designed to protect military units, critical infrastructure and major cities.
The system is being developed in successive phases. The current Block 1 interceptor was derived from the Hisar family of short-to-medium-range missiles. Officials said Block 2 is a completely new missile design, while work is currently underway on a third iteration, Block 3.
