While Aselsan’s Korkut 35 mm air defence system has been in service with the Turkish Land Forces on a tracked FNSS ACV-30 chassis for several years, at Eurosatory 2024, held in Paris from 17 to 21 June, the company unveiled a wheeled variant of the system mounted on an Otokar Arma 8×8 armoured combat vehicle chassis.
At the heart of the Korkut air defence system is a twin-barrel 35 mm gun system mounted in a turret. In addition to conventional 35 mm rounds the guns, which have a rate of fire of 550 rounds per minute, can fire Aselsan’s ATOM 35 mm airburst ammunition, allowing the system to engage a wide range of airborne threats, including fixed-and rotary-wing aircraft, cruise missiles air-to-ground missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.
The twin guns are fed by an automatic linkless ammunition feed mechanism (ALAFM) that allows two different types of ammunition to be loaded into the magazine at the same time, making it possible to change the type of ammunition being fired within less than 15 seconds. The magazine holds 200 ready-to-fire rounds plus an additional 200 spare rounds.
The gun turret is stabilised for target tracking and firing on the move and features both a fire control radar and opto-electronic sensor fit for automatic target tracking.
Speaking to ESD at Eurosatory 2024 on 19 June, Saban Karakaya, programme director for space, air and missile defence systems at Aselsan, explained that a Korkut platoon typically consists of three gun system vehicles and a command-and-control vehicle, which carries a 3D search radar to develop the local air picture, evaluate threats and assign targets to the gun system vehicles.
Karakaya said that, while the tracked Korkut system is principally used to provide short-range air defence for deployed army units, the wheeled Korkut system has been developed for customers more likely to use road-based systems, such as air force units conducting air base protection missions. While the wheeled Korkut system has been developed primarily for export, Karakaya confirmed that Aselsan is also pitching it to the Turkish Air Force.
The Korkut twin 35 mmm gun system has a range of up to 4 km, with Karakaya noting that in recent trials a tracked Korkut system successfully shot down loitering munition targets at a range exceeding 3 km using minimal ammunition.
He added that the Korkut system features a very fast targeting sequence, allowing a Korkut platoon to successfully counter a swarm of around 50 hostile drones/loitering munitions.
