IDEF 2021: 'Turkish DARPA' targets live tests for Kuzgun
19th August 2021 -
Hakan Kılıç
Turkish defence R&D company TÜBİTAK-SAGE exhibited a new family of
guided munitions
The Kuzgun series of guided munitions features a variety of warhead (fragmentation, thermobaric, general-purpose and penetrator), guidance method (INS/GPS or only INS) and seeker (imaging infrared - IIR, millimetre-wave radar or laser) options.
TÜBİTAK-SAGE claims that the modular Kuzgun family is cost-effective and suitable for multiple-attack and high-precision strike missions with minimal collateral damage. It intends to run live-fire tests with Kuzgun before the end of 2021.
Kuzgun-TJ is expected to have a turbojet engine and a range of 135nmi (or 97nmi when fired from an armed UAV), while Kuzgun SS is a free-fall model with a range of 60mni (or 20nmi from an unmanned aircraft).
TÜBİTAK-SAGE has experience in the field of guided munitions — examples include the
KGK wing-assisted guidance kit that ‘converts existing unguided 1,000lb MK83 and 500lb MK82 general purpose bombs into long-range, air to ground smart weapons’, it notes on its website.
In other developments, Shephard understands that the first Turkish-made air-to-air missiles (AAM) are about to go on sale. TÜBİTAK-SAGE produces two types: the short-range Bozdoğan and the beyond visual range Gökdoğan missile.
Firing tests of both solid fuel-powered missiles are in progress.
Bozdoğan was designed as a Turkish equivalent to the
AIM-9X Sidewinder AAM, with features such as a high-resolution IIR seeker that provides an off-boresight capability. The missile has been successfully test-fired from a Turkish Air Force (TAF) F-16 against target drones.
TÜBİTAK-SAGE created Gökdoğan with active radar homing as an equivalent to the
AIM-120C7 AMRAAM.
Both Bozdoğan and Gökdoğan will appear in the TAF inventory within two years.
TÜBİTAK-SAGE is also working on ramjet engine technology for defence applications. A recent official government statement noted that this research is being leveraged into a new long-range AAM called Gökhan, broadly equivalent to the MBDA
Meteor AAM.
TÜBİTAK-SAGE displays modular guided munitions and guidance kits at IDEF 2021.
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