Turkey to install new air defense systems on Syria border

Developed by Aselsan, the country’s leading defense manufacturer, the counter-mortar “Serhat” radar system and self-propelled “Korkut” air defense gun system were recently installed at the Öncüpınar border crossing in Kilis, as part of plans by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) to upgrade border security. 

According to reports by Turkish daily Habertürk, the systems will now be installed at the Elbeyli border crossing in Kilis. 

Korkut, which has a rate of fire of 1100 rounds per minute, is expected to destroy rockets some four kilometers before they hit the ground, in cases where they are unnoticed by unmanned aerial vehicles, otherwise known as drones. 

Moreover, two batteries of Aselsan’s High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) will also be brought to Kilis alongside armed drones. 

Meanwhile, efforts to seal off a 70-kilometer strip of Turkey’s border that stretches from just east of the Turkish town of Kilis to Karkamış were nearing an end, while a physical security system will soon be installed. According to reports, the wall’s construction continues in the southeastern provinces of Kilis, Gaziantep, Hatay, Şanlıurfa and Mardin. 

The structure, 70 percent of which is now complete, will be five meters high – including four meters of concrete and a meter of razor wire. 

The border will be monitored 24/7 with unmanned bubbled surveillance systems dubbed “mini zeppelins,” also developed by Aselsan. 

The surveillance system enables immobile facilities such as small units and posts to monitor local security and give early warnings. Coming in two different models, the surveillance system can convey images over a 360-degree area in real-time to the control station, with day and night cameras. 

ISIL rocket attacks have claimed the lives of 21 since Jan. 18, including eight Syrians, in Kilis, while more than 80 people have been wounded.