Turkish Forum

Tag: missiles

  • NATO missiles defend Turkey as debate rages over whether the West should intervene in Syria’s civil war

    NATO missiles defend Turkey as debate rages over whether the West should intervene in Syria’s civil war

    First Lieutenant Arnd de Ruiter commands a Dutch Patriot missile battery which defends southern Turkey from Scud missile attacks from Syria, where Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime is becoming more unpredictable and may have used chemical weapons against his own people.

    NATO missiles defend Turkey as debate rages over whether the West should intervene in Syria’s civil war

    Photograph by: Matthew Fisher/Postmedia News , Postmedia News

    ADANA, Turkey — As bloody as the war inside Syria is, it would suddenly get much bigger and much more complicated politically if a Syrian tactical ballistic missile was to hit Adana, a city of more than two million Turks. Such an attack would immediately draw in the Turks and oblige every NATO country to contribute to Turkey’s defence.

    Adana is 140 kilometres away from the Syrian border, as the Scud missile flies. Such rockets can carry chemical weapons which the United States and others suspect have recently been used against Syrians.

    via NATO missiles defend Turkey as debate rages over whether the West should intervene in Syria’s civil war.

  • Turkey Orders Nearly 10 Dozen Sidewinder Missiles

    The up-arming of NATO ally Turkey continues. In recent weeks, the country, which shares a border with war-wracked Syria, has requested deployment of multiple batteries of Patriot surface-to-air missiles from Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.S., to protect its southern border. Now it appears to be buying more weapons directly from the U.S. to further beef up its armed forces.

    On Monday, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced that it has notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to the government of Turkey. If approved by Congress, Raytheon (NYSE: RTN ) will sell the Turkish armed forces some 117 advanced AIM-9X-2 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, along with related training and launching equipment. In total, the value of this arms deal is $140 million.

    In a statement on the proposed sale, DSCA noted that the Turkish Air Force is modernizing its fighter aircraft to bolster its air defenses. Turkey’s air force includes several squadrons of Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT ) -built F-16 fighter jets , which are capable of carrying the new missile.

    via Turkey Orders Nearly 10 Dozen Sidewinder Missiles.

  • Turkey in a quandary over missile threat

    Turkey in a quandary over missile threat

    As Iran develops technologies associated with ballistic and cruise missiles, neighbouring Turkey faces an emerging security threat.

    By Aaron Stein for Southeast European Times in Istanbul – 05/07/11

    ”]Iran has developed a large ballistic and cruise missile capability. [Reuters]Recent war games in Iran have again attracted attention to the significant resources the Islamic Republic is devoting to extending the range of its current stockpile of ballistic missiles and the development of cruise missiles to overcome existing ballistic missile defences (BMD).

    “Iran’s long-range missiles have been worrying Ankara for more than a decade,” Sebnem Udum, an associate professor of international relations at Hacettepe University, told SETimes, adding that ballistic missile defence (BMD) has become more important for Turkey’s future defence plans.

    At the same time, “Ankara does not want to send the wrong signals to Iran,” she says.

    For this reason, Turkey objected to the naming of Iran and Syria as specific threats to the Alliance during negotiations with its NATO Allies in 2010, out of concern it would actually spur both Iran and Syria to speed up their missile programmes.

    The Turkish leadership “aims to solve problems within a ‘co-operative security’ framework based on talks, improved relations, and trade”, Udum says.

    NATO eventually agreed to remove Iran and Syria from its final declaration of specific threats and, as part of this compromise, Turkey agreed to host one radar installation for the Alliance’s missile defence shield.

    Despite agreeing to the shield, Ankara has shown it is intent on pursuing an independent BMD capability.

    The proposed independent BMD system has potential drawbacks, however, according to Dennis Gormley, a security studies professor at the University of Pittsburgh and author of “Missile Contagion”.

    “Turkey might not have access to ballistic missile warning information, as well as the benefits of working with NATO partners in training on tactics and procedures related to perfecting missile defence operations,” he told SETimes.

    According to Gormley, neither Turkey nor NATO should focus on ballistic missiles at the expense of guarding against other risks. “The threat of land-attack cruise missiles is also growing and is much more demanding than that of defending against aircraft,” he said.

    Cruise missiles are essentially small-unmanned aircraft designed for offensive missions. Their low trajectory, terrain masking capabilities and 360-degree route of attack make it difficult for current BMD sensors to track and identify these targets. Despite having a theoretical capability to intercept low-flying cruise missiles, “significant improvements are needed in airborne sensors and radar data sharing to provide defence,” Gormley said.

    Iran is known to have imported 18 Kh-55 cruise missiles with a range of 3,000km in 2001, and is developing a cruise missile based on the Chinese Silkworm that could conceivably carry a well-designed nuclear warhead 105km, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

    Turkey has not announced any plans to defend against the growing threat of cruise missiles, choosing to focus solely on ballistic missiles.

    Advanced fighter jets, like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, have some capability to defend against cruise missiles, but improvements are needed to adequately defend against a cruise missile attack.

    According to Gormley, “the F-35’s active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar could track low-flying cruise missiles.” If equipped with advanced medium range air-to-air missiles, “they could destroy such missiles, including the Kh-55 and Ra’ad,” he said.

    Turkey is a member of the US-led consortium building the plane and has indicated a willingness to buy 100 F-35s over the next 15 years.

    While such a capability would be good for small volume attacks, the limited range of the plane’s radar would present problems for larger attacks, says Gormley.

    This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.

    via Turkey in a quandary over missile threat (SETimes.com).

  • Turkey, Azerbaijan plan joint production of anti-tank missiles

    Turkey, Azerbaijan plan joint production of anti-tank missiles

    azer turkPanARMENIAN.Net – Director General of ROKETSAN Huseyn Baysak said a number of countries, including Azerbaijan take interest in anti-tank missiles projected by the Turkish engineers. Azerbaijan is also interested in the joint production of these missiles.

    “We finished the work on the project of long-range anti-tank missile system UMTAS and begin its tests. UMTAS is launched from helicopters and can strike all ground targets, including tanks. This is ROKETSAN’s national product and no foreign technologies were used in this project”, said Baysak.

    The company is planning to begin serial production of UMTAS after the tests finish in 2012. The system of maximum 4-km range can be installed on tripod or vehicles. It will be used against the most armored vehicles.

    UMTAS missiles have 160-mm caliber, above 37.5kg weight, 1750-mm length and can effectively reach targets in 8 km, APA reported.

    via Turkey, Azerbaijan plan joint production of anti-tank missiles – PanARMENIAN.Net.