Turkey’s Roketsan delivers first KASIRGA missiles to military

ANKARA

AA photo

Turkish defense company Roketsan delivered the 303 mm Guided Missile System, also known as KASIRGA (Hurricane), to the Turkish military at a ceremony held in the capital Ankara on Nov. 16

“The KASIRGA is a system developed entirely by Roketsan and has an extreme accuracy up to 120 kilometers range. Turkey has become a country that meets its needs with domestic and national opportunities as it also develops these technologies and sells them to friendly and brotherly countries,” Defense Minister Fikri Işık told reporters on the sidelines of the ceremony. 

The minister said KASIRGA is a “100 percent native and national system” produced by Turkish engineers, designers and workers, stressing that it is a good example of the increase in the Turkish Armed Forces’ (TSK) striking ability. 

The KASIRGA 302 mm missile and weapon system can intensively and effectively fire critical point targets from 30 kilometers to 120 kilometers, thanks to its high striking and destroying capability.

The system will provide excellent fire support to maneuvering units by providing timely, accurate and high fire power, according to experts. 

Roketsan was founded in 1988 with a resolution of Turkey’s Defense Industries Executive Committee for the purpose of “possessing a leading institution in the country for designing, developing and manufacturing rockets and missiles.”

Responding to a question on F-35s, the Lockheed Martin fighter jet program of which Turkey is also a part, Işık said some parts of the F-35 were produced in Turkey and the number of aircraft ordered so far was six.

Explaining that these six aircraft will be delivered to Turkey from 2018, the jets will replace the F-4 jets in the Turkish military inventory. 

Işık said Turkey would buy a total of 24 F-35s over the next three years.

Lockheed is building three variants of the F-35 for the U.S. military and 10 countries that plan to buy the jets: Britain, Australia, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, Israel, Japan and South Korea. A Lockheed representative said the company is “honored” by Turkey’s continued commitment to the F-35 program, which was further demonstrated by the decision by the DIEC on Oct. 29.