On 10 July, the President of the Turkish defence procurement authorities SSB, İsmail Demir, made two major announcements related to HISAR short- and medium-range surface-to-air missile system projects. The first was about the delivery of the HISAR A+ system (15 km range) to the Turkish Armed Forces. The other announcement concerned the development of the HISAR O+ system (25 km range). HISAR O+ destroyed a high-speed target at a long range and high altitude, thus initiating the serial production phase. The high-explosive fragmentation warhead used in the missiles is from Tubitak Sage, a system which has has a of 360-degree capability and can effectively engage multiple targets simultaneously. The VLS holds six missiles and according to SSB, the HISAR O+ system has a distributed and flexible architecture to be organised at battery and battalion level. The fire control system consists of:
- the launcher
- a medium altitude air defence radar
- an electro-optical system
- infrared seeker missile
- RF seeker missile elements
HISAR systems with dual pulse solid propellants can operate in all weather conditions, engaging:
- armed or unarmed UAVs
- fighter aircraft
- helicopters
- air-to-surface missiles
- cruise missiles
HISAR elements are expected to be integrated with the Turkish armed forces air defence system in mid-2022.
Korhan Özkilinc
