Aselsan’s air defense delivered

ISTANBUL - Daily News with wires

The Turkish Military Electronics Company (Aselsan) has completed deliveries of the Pedestal-Mounted Stinger (KMS), which the company developed as Turkey’s first nationally produced air-defense system, to the Turkish military. The last five systems were delivered to the military at a ceremony yesterday.

“We have been able to build a tank-firing control system, arms systems with remote control capability, and other air-defense systems over the years thanks to the technology we garnered from [the KMS] project. All these projects are rooted in the KMS project. Currently we are carrying out more than 100 projects,” Defense Industry Undersecretary Murad Bayar said at the ceremony.

Aselsan has also produced 18 KMS systems for the Royal Netherlands Army, said Necmettin Baykul, the chairman of Aselsan, adding that Aselsan had taken over maintenance, repair and spare-parts supply services for the Dutch army’s systems after the warranty period ended.

The KMS is a low-altitude air defense system using the Stinger missile, but all of its functions are computer-controlled.

Stinger is produced by Arizona based Raytheon Missile Systems. Stingers are deployed in more than 18 nations and all four U.S. Military services, according to the company web site. Normally they are shoulder-fired by a single operator. The maximum engagement range of Stingers is nearly 8,000 meters.