Roketsan's Hypersonic Missile Bolsters Türkiye's Defense Deterrence

Türkiye's advancements in domestic defense production, particularly the new Tayfun Blok-4 hypersonic missile, provide a major boost to the nation's deterrent capabilities, a top defense official announced. Murat İkinci, General Manager of Roketsan, highlighted this achievement during his address at the Military Radar and Border Security Summit in the capital Ankara, framing it within the context of rapidly shifting global security dynamics.

İkinci underscored that the ability to internally produce critical defense systems is a cornerstone of national sovereignty. "A nation that can manufacture its own weapons, missiles, and radars can also dictate its own security policies," he stated, identifying this as the crucial threshold for true independence. He pointed to artificial intelligence, hypersonic systems, and space technologies as the definitive frontiers for the future defense industry.

The Roketsan executive revealed that Western nations have imposed both visible and covert embargoes on Türkiye, making the indigenous development of sub-technologies a strategic imperative. "We are intensifying our efforts in domestic production, especially in sensor and laser technologies. Roketsan is among the institutions facing the most restrictions," İkinci noted. He detailed that while the Tayfun Blok-4 meets long-range strike needs, further work is needed in domestic fuel, explosives, guidance systems, and nanotechnology.

İkinci also elaborated on Türkiye's multi-layered air defense network, the Steel Dome. He described it as a comprehensive system protecting land, sea, and airspace simultaneously through integrated radars, sensors, and missiles. "Türkiye is one of the few countries with such an advanced system," he said, adding that nationally developed AI acts as the project's "mind," optimizing communication between all components from radar to ammunition, a collaboration between Aselsan, Roketsan, TUBITAK, SAGE, and MKE.