In a rather terse statement, the Turkish MoD announces the delivery of HİSAR O+ missiles to its Armed Forces (AF).
Turkish media reports that "The Ministry of National Defense announced that new systems were put into inventory. The development was conveyed at the Weekly Press Briefing on the activities of the Ministry of National Defense.
In this regard, "our Land Forces Command completed the inspection and acceptance activities of various quantities of "Mini Smart Ammunition", "Electronic Attack System MILKAR" and "Hisar-O Missile"
Mass Production Period for SİPER and HİSAR Air Defence Systems
The "Mass Production Contract Signing Ceremony of SİPER Product-1 and HİSAR Projects", which was initiated by the Presidency of Defense Industries in the context of the needs of the Turkish Armed Forces, was attended by, Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler, Chief of General Staff General Metin Gürak, President of Defense Industries Prof. Dr. Haluk Görgün, Commander of Land Forces General Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu, Commander of Air Force General Ziya Cemal Kadıoğlu, Commander of Naval Forces Admiral Ercüment Tatlıoğlu, Deputy Ministers of National Defense and representatives of the Armed Forces Sector of Turkey.
In this context, a contract and a contract amendment was signed with the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey, Presidency of Defence Industries, in the context of air defence systems, with ASELSAN's share amounting to 428.538.878,16 euros and 4.884.244.675,07 TL in total (approx.18,5 billion TL).
Delivery times to the Turkish Armed Forces
In the contract ROKETSAN will produce the missiles, the delivery schedule covers the years 2025-2029.
Under the contract, the acceptance activities of the SİPER Product-1 regional air defense and long-range missile system will be completed by May 2024.
In-field mass production deliveries will begin in January 2026.
The first mass-production member of the HİSAR family will be delivered in late 2025.
The AIC low-altitude air defence system
Another situation is that the received HİSAR A+ launchers can be used with 35 mm systems that have undergone AIC modernization.
In this system, the AIC (Fire Management Device) was developed by ASELSAN so that the guns can fire at targets detected by radar.
AİC offers a low-altitude air defence solution based on the latest technology to effectively defend critical installations and fixed military units.
A typical AIC team consists of 1 Fire Management Apparatus (AIC), 2 Modernized 35 mm Trailing Firearms and 1 Low Altitude Air Defence Low Altitude Missile Launch System (HİSAR-A FFS).
In other words, AİC can also command the HİSAR A+ system.
Therefore, the Turkish Air Force can use HİSAR A+ missiles within the HİSAR O+ system or within the AIC group.
The HİSAR O+ medium system
The HİSAR-O+ system has 18 (3 launcher vehicles) interceptor missiles at cluster level and 54 (9 launcher vehicles) interceptor missiles at Anti-Aircraft Squadron (Battalion) level.
The system has a fighter detection and tracking range of 40-60 km and can track more than 60 targets.
The system has a maximum range of 25 km with IIR guided missiles and an estimated range of 25-35 km with RF guided missiles.
The HİSAR O+ air defence missile system managed to destroy the high-altitude, high-velocity target in its last acceptance shot before entering the stockpile. Thus, HİSAR O+ completed its acceptance activities and became ready for service with all its components and full capability.
The HİSAR A+ was the first to be delivered to the HİSAR air defense missile systems.
The long-range SİPER air defence system, which is currently being tested, is expected to be accepted by May 2024.
The development of indigenous air defence by Turkey
From the above it can be concluded that it consists of the anti-aircraft systems, HISAR A+, HISAR O+ and SIPER.
The HISAR O+ can hit targets at a range of up to 25 kilometres and an altitude of up to 20 kilometres and the short-range HISAR A+ capable of hitting targets up to 15 kilometres (9.3 miles).
Regarding the long-range SIPER, the Turks give that it has a range of 150 kilometers (150 miles), making it an alternative to the S-400 and Patriot.
Turkish air defence today
It is estimated that Turkey needs 8-10 long-range arrays, such as S-400, Patriot or indigenous Siper, in order to fully cover its territory, which of course does not exist today.
In either case, the future creation of a single low, medium and high altitude air defense system with the indigenous Turkish HISAR A+, HISAR O+, and SIPER domestic air defense missiles respectively, is something very ambitious by the Turks but at the same time something that should be of concern since it will increase the capabilities of the poor Turkish air defense.
Whether the Turkish anti-aircraft missiles approach in reliability and capabilities the already known Western ones is a question.
Finally, our assessment is that our country with the RAFALE, F-16 VIPER and in the future with the F-35, will have the air advantage in the Aegean, even after the implementation of the Turkish plans to create a "domestic air defense".
