Our country continues its efforts to develop domestic and national systems in the defense industry without slowing down. While long-range missile technologies are one of the important topics of these studies, a new phase has now been reached in the TAYFUN family developed by ROKETSAN. The delivery process for Blok-3, one of the most advanced variants of TAYFUN, is now on the agenda.
In his latest statement, ROKETSAN General Manager Murat İkin announced that TAYFUN Block-3 will be delivered to the Turkish Armed Forces within this year. This statement shows that Block-3 has reached a certain maturity in its production process as well as development and testing activities.
WHAT ARE THE STANDING FEATURES OF TAYFUN BLOK-3?
One of the most important technologies that distinguishes TAYFUN Block-3 from previous variants is the seeker head. This capability has been developed to allow the missile not only to strike at predetermined coordinates, but also to detect and engage the target in the final phase of the flight.
This capability was also demonstrated in the test firing carried out in July this year. In the test carried out in the Black Sea, TAYFUN Block-3 successfully hit a moving unmanned sea target. ROKETSAN announced that seeker head integration was used during the test and the target was successfully destroyed. Thus, Block-3's capability against moving naval targets was demonstrated for the first time in a public test.
In the TAYFUN program, it was also reported that the new TAYFUN test firing, carried out from Rize-Artvin Airport on October 1, was successfully completed. The shooting was carried out under the coordination of ROKETSAN and the Presidency of Defense Industries.
NEXT STAGE BLOCK-4
The development process of the TAYFUN family will not end with Block-3. ROKETSAN is rapidly continuing its work on TAYFUN Block-4, which has more advanced capabilities.
Speaking to Fulya Öztürk from CNN TÜRK team, Roketsan General Manager Murat İki stated that Block-4 will be put into operation after Block-3 and the transition to mass production will take place at a later stage.
TAYFUN'S TARGET RANGE IS EXPANDING
Retired Intelligence Colonel Coşkun Başbuğ stated that TAYFUN was developed as a missile system that can be used from different platforms and be effective against moving targets, and particularly drew attention to the artificial intelligence-supported seeker head studies.
Başbuğ said, "TAYFUN is planned as a ballistic missile, but our main goal is to be able to use TAYFUN at various ranges and on different platforms. We are working on its ability to be used on all land, air and sea platforms and to be effective against moving targets, supported by artificial intelligence. These capabilities are being tested in new versions of TAYFUN."
Stating that this approach is not limited to TAYFUN, Başbuğ said that ROKETSAN is also carrying out similar studies on different missile systems:
"One of the main goals is to carry out the process with artificial intelligence-supported seeker heads against moving targets on land, in the air or at sea, not only in TAYFUN, but also in other missiles. This capability is also being tested in different missile systems. Success has been achieved in this regard in TAYFUN. R&D studies continue intensively on how to be more effective against moving targets on the sea or in the air."
Test firing was carried out again for Typhoon from Rize-Artvin Airport. While intense security measures were taken in and around Rize-Artvin Airport during the test firing, the test firing was completed successfully. (Photo: İHA)
pierce warhead draws attention
Another important feature of Tayfun Block-3 is its penetrating warhead. It is stated that this capability was developed for use against targets with high protection.
Coşkun Başbuğ stated that the penetrating warhead used in TAYFUN Block-3 is a capability to expand the usage area of the missile against protected and fortified targets, and added that the protection measures developed by countries against missiles and ammunition make these studies mandatory:
"Iron, concrete and similar fortifications are used to protect against missiles. Therefore, ammunition that can overcome these defensive measures is being developed. For example, the USA declares that its penetrating bombs can be effective up to certain depths. Other countries carry out different tests to penetrate deeper or overcome concrete structures of certain thickness. Every country that wants to strengthen its defense carries out such tests and trials. We also test the capabilities of our own systems."
'INVENTORY TRANSITION PROCESSES ARE NOW PROGRESSING FAST'
Stating that the entry of TAYFUN Block-3 into the Turkish Armed Forces inventory this year will contribute to Turkey's long-range precision strike capability, Coşkun Başbuğ said, "We are carrying out these tests. Success is achieved in the tests carried out against different targets on the platforms. However, these are tests carried out initially on individual productions. When the necessary results are obtained in the tests, the process moves on to mass production and then to the stage of entry into the inventory. We have started to make rapid progress at this stage now."
"We now see that our inventory transition processes are slowly working. What the public is wondering about is this: We are achieving these successes, but are these products currently available in the Turkish Armed Forces, can our soldiers use these and similar defense products? It is important to start the inventory transition processes in order to answer these questions."
Stating that TAYFUN is one of the prominent systems in this process, Başbuğ said, "We see a similar process not only in TAYFUN, but also in other platforms we have developed. TAYFUN is ahead in this regard. We see that a series of new versions of TAYFUN have recently entered the inventory and been received by the Turkish Armed Forces. Therefore, these developments will contribute to Turkey's deterrence capacity against the target country in case of a possible operation or operation."
