Turkish army acquires new locally made air defense system

KORKUT, a domestically made air defense system manufactured by defense contractor ASELSAN, was commissioned by the Turkish Armed Forces, the Defense Ministry announced.

The weapon system jointly produced by ASELSAN and local private contractor FNSS provides defense against air-to-surface missiles, aircrafts, gunships and armed drones. It is accompanied by a three-dimensional mobile search radar and will be used for armored units. Consisting of a stabilized weapon tower, it has mobile firing capacity, automatic selection of ammunition, automated targeting and electro-optical sensors. A description on ASELSAN's website says the system is composed of three 35 mm gun systems and one command control system that can operate fully autonomously.

The commissioning of KORKUT comes at a time of elevated security threats against Turkey, especially near the border with Syria where Turkey faces a spillover of violence from the war-torn country. Some Turkish media outlets reported that the system would be deployed in Kilis, a province on the Syrian border that has been subject to almost daily rocket attacks by Daesh on the Syrian side in the past few months.