President of Defence Industries, Prof İsmail Demir, attended a television interview today. Demir gave details about Turkish air defence systems. The HİSAR (Fortress) is a family of short-range to long-range surface-to-air missile systems developed by ASELSAN and ROKETSAN since 2007. It consists of the HİSAR-A low altitude air defence system, HİSAR-O medium-range air defence system and HİSAR-U (renamed as Siper) (Trench) long-range air defence system.
Demir indicated that today’s portfolio is more comprehensive than the initial plans. “We have upgraded versions of Hisar A and Hisar O. We have Hisar A+ and Hisar O +”, Demir explained. Defining the programme as a voyage towards Siper, Demir implied that they benefitted from former experiences. “Siper will be vertically launched like Hisar A and Hisar O, as it will have a two-stage rocket engine (editor’s note: booster + rocket engine). Siper will have Active Radar Homing (ARH) and Imaging Infra-Red (IIR) Seeker. It is a voyage. Siper will be in the inventory by 2023.
Demir has also stated that further works will be carried out to intercept ballistic missiles at higher altitude.
Active radar homing (ARH) is a missile guidance method. A missile contains a radar transceiver (in contrast to semi-active radar homing, which uses only a receiver) and the electronics necessary to find and track its target autonomously. NATO brevity code for an air-to-air active radar homing missile launch is Fox Three.
Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as “heat-seekers” since infrared is radiated strongly by hot bodies. Many objects such as people, vehicle engines and aircraft generate and emit heat and are especially visible in the infrared wavelengths of light compared to items in the background. NATO brevity code for an air-to-air active radar homing missile launch is Fox Two.
Missile tests of Hisar-A begun in 2013, and Hisar-O commenced in 2014
Siper will use ASELSAN’s early warning radar to identify targets.
