Türkiye's integrated air defense system, dubbed the Steel Dome, is steadily enhancing its capabilities, strengthening national airspace security through a multilayered architecture built with domestically developed technology.
The air defense system has been one of the main topics in Türkiye since the start of Israel's attacks on Iran, which have prompted Ankara to step up measures to protect its airspace and land borders.
Türkiye has long said it is working to build up its defenses, including long-range missiles.
A NATO member that shares a 560-kilometer (350-mile) border with Iran, Türkiye has condemned Israel's attacks on Iran, saying they violate international law.
On Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described Israel's attacks on Iran as "state terrorism" and said Türkiye would raise its own defenses to such a level that "nobody will even consider" attacking it.
Described as the country's "security umbrella" in the skies, the Steel Dome provides phased and integrated protection against low, medium and high-altitude threats through systems developed by Turkish defense firms.
One of these is defense firm Aselsan's anti-aircraft gun Korkut, which meets the low-altitude defense needs of the Turkish Armed Forces as an effective, mobile and quick system against threats.
The Hisar-A and Hisar-0, developed by Aselsan and Roketsan, are domestically-made low and medium-altitude air defense missile systems that provide effective protection against aircraft, cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and helicopters.
Sage, the Siper air defense system developed in collaboration with Aselsan, Roketsan, and the Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Institution (TÜBITAK), is effective against high-altitude and long-range threats to protect critical facilities, military units, and cities against fighter jets, cruise and ballistic missiles, UAVs and other air vehicles.
The Siper Blok 1 has already entered the Turkish Armed Forces' inventory and work is underway for the development of Blok 2.
The defense industry has expanded the country's air-to-air engagement capabilities with Roketsan's shoulder-launched system Sungur to protect military units at low altitudes and TÜBITAK's Göktuğ missile that can be launched from aircraft platforms.
Aselsan and Roketsan's laser-based high precision systems Gökberk and Alka are next-generation products in the Turkish defense industry and designed with an integrated architecture in mind.
The Gürz hybrid air defense system from Aselsan integrates missile, gun, and laser technologies, while other systems such as Göker, Gökdeniz, Göksur, and Roketsan's Levent offer customized solutions based on similar integrated design principles.
The defense industry also continues to develop national technologies to neutralize threats at their source.
Roketsan's MAM family of munitions, anti-tank systems OMTAS, UMTAS, and Karaok, guided rockets TRLG-122/230, IHA-122/230, and K, and strategic missile systems Tayfun, Akya, Çakır, Atmaca, and SOM add to Türkiye’s operational effectiveness on the battlefield.
Haluk Görgün, president of Türkiye's Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB), said the country's defense components must function in coordination.
"Our understanding of security isn’t limited to deterrence ... it is based on a superiority in influence," Görgün told Anadolu Agency (AA).
"The Steel Dome is at the heart of a multilayered air defense architecture: a system of systems where all elements from sensors to air defense missiles and other launch systems come together in a network, producing real time and integrated responses as an absolute security umbrella," he added.
