Turkey plans to develop its local-made air defense missile system compatible with NATO products 12504162

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Defence & Security News - Turkey
 
Turkey plans to develop its local-made air defense missile system compatible with NATO products.
Turkey plans to develop its local-made air defense missile system, which will be integrated with that operated by NATO and may help the country to increase the chance to be compatible with existing systems NATO countries, the head of Turkey's Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM) said Monday, April 25, 2016.
     
Turkey plans to develop its local-made air defense missile system, which will be integrated with that operated by NATO and may help the country to increase the chance to be compatible with existing systems NATO countries, the head of Turkey's Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM) said Monday, April 25, 2016. HISAR short to medium-range air defense missile system mounted on tactical truck chassis Mercedes-Benz at IDEF 2015, defense exhibition in Istanbul, Turkey.
     

In November 2015, Turkey canceled a $4-billion tender for the purchase of components for the country's missile defense system, as it decided to develop the system domestically.

"We have canceled the results of the tender, not the project itself. Soon we will enter a new phase, where domestic companies, including Roketsan and Havelsan, will participate. We continue the development of short-, medium- and long-range systems, gradually increasing the range. We will not make any direct purchases, but at the same time the missile defense system we are developing, will be integrated in the NATO system. We consider that joint work with NATO will speed up the process [of the development]," Ismail Demir told the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet in an interview.

He added that it is Ankara's objective to create an entirely domestically-produced defense system and to increase Turkey's military exports by 15 times in the next seven years.

In November Turkey scrapped a $3.44 billion contract for which it in 2013 selected China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corp for the delivery of FD-2000 air defense missile system. The winning Chinese FD-2000 system beat the US Patriot, the Russian S-400 and the French-Italian Eurosam Samp-T.

In order to fulfill critical zone air defense purposes, Turkish Defense Company Aselsan has developed a new medium range air defense missile system, called HISAR. This Low and Medium Altitude Air Defense Missile Systems is able to destroy any aerial threats at low-medium altitude. The HISAR mobile launcher vehicle was presented for the first time during IDEF 2015, the International Industry Fair in Istanbul, Turkey.