New Test Panned for Turkey's Siper Air Defense System, Analogue of Russian S-400

Turkey’s Siper high-altitude long-range air defense missile system (ADMS) wiill be tested soon as part of its development new test will be held soon, Ismail Demir, head of the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) said Sunday.

The Siper ADMS is seen as an analogue to the Russian S-400 and the American PATRIOT ADMS. It is not clear if the Siper development has Russian support as one of the conditions for the Turkish purchase of the S-400 was technology transfer to help Turkey develop its own ADMS.

Demir said that each test means testing a new capability, adding a new capability to the system, developing capabilities or taking it one step further. "All of our tests have been very successful. The message that these tests give us is that we see with great pleasure that our Siper project is really on track, it is going very well," he explained.

Demir was speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) at the sidelines of Teknofest Azerbaijan, the first foreign edition of the leading Turkish aviation, space and technology festival.

He said that with such projects, Turkey will be completely excluded from "discussions such as 'Did they give the Patriots, did we buy SAMP/T, or whether an embargo was applied?"

The Siper project is led by Turkey's defense companies- Aselsan, Roketsan and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK)'s Defense Industries Research and Development Institute (SAGE).

Developed to protect strategic facilities against enemy attacks within the scope of regional air defense, Siper will allow air defense at long range and in the protection of distributed architecture.
Turkey successfully test-fired the Siper air defense missile system for the first time on November 2021. It is planned to enter service in 2023.

Besides Siper, Turkey is working on ADMS systems such as the Korkut, Sungur and Hisar as part of the country's plans to set up a layered air defense system.