GÜRZ made its debut in the IDEF’23 exhibition organised in Istanbul, Turkiye. The air defence system was first seen on the Turkish patent platform Türk Patent, nicknamed “Turkish Pantsir” by Russian social media users who shared it.
The system was later called “Hybrid” during a presentation of ASELSAN, showing existing and future systems in a layered manner.
GÜRZ’s name was finally revealed before the start of IDEF’23. Until its official introduction, GÜRZ was thought to only use a 35 mm gun and SHORAD missiles. However, following the name reveal and the technical specifications that followed, it was revealed that the system has a secondary type of missile mounted on barrel cover for threats at shorter ranges.
The sensors consist of four AESA radars for detection and tracking in a hemisphere and a fire control radar on the turret for target illumination.
GÜRZ’s first layer of defence is the missiles derived from the IIR-guided BOZDOĞAN air-to-air missiles. The high manoeuvrability of the BOZDOĞAN missile is fit for engaging aircraft and cruise missiles.
The next layer’s very short-range missile hasn’t been specified, but ROKETSAN’s SUNGUR is among the options. The missiles can be taken as lower-cost alternatives, which are also much easier to reload against lower-end threats at short ranges.
The last line of defence is a 35 mm autocannon capable of firing ATOM airburst ammunition. ATOM’s airburst time is assigned during its exit from the barrel. The ammunition forms a cone of metal particles. This cone is especially effective against small UAVs, which are harder to hit with conventional ammunition. The increasing threat from small munition-carrying UAVs has highlighted the importance of air defence systems effective against small UAVs.
The main philosophy behind combined air defence systems such as GÜRZ is providing all capabilities on a single platform, a fitting concept for deploying on facilities quickly as opposed to traditional air defence batteries, which consume more resources and take more time to deploy/relocate.
The mobile platform is based on Anadolu Isuzu’s Seyit 8x8 truck.
