Turkish minister unveils first domestically produced 'Railgun'

As the Turkish defense industry continues to pioneer new developments in its bid for independent domestic production, Turkey's Minister of Science, Industry and Technology Faruk Özlü has revealed photos of the state's first domestically produced railgun, developed by the state-run Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK).

The railgun, named SAPAN, which literally means "sling" in Turkish, is the country's first domestically engineered electromagnetic weapon. According to Turkish media outlets, the weapon uses electromagnetic currents rather than explosives or propellants made with gunpowder, enabling projectiles to be fired from the railgun at speeds much higher than those of conventional weaponry. The new weapon, which was first tested in 2014, will enable Turkey to compete with U.S-based and U.K.-based defense companies, the only two countries in the world which develop railguns, according to Turkish media sources.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan are champions for the "national and domestic" initiative launched by the defense industry. The development comes on the heels of a speech by President Erdoğan who pointed out that, in the past, Turkey was not even capable of "producing a simple rifle," but now has the capacity to develop its own warships, saying: "We also have armed drones now. This is a major accomplishment. Despite being a strategic ally of the U.S., our purchases of armed drones from the U.S. were met with obstruction by U.S. Congress for drone acquisition and led us to purchase drones from Israel [the last time], which presented problems in terms of drone repair in the case of malfunction," he noted.