A briefing on the Siper Product-1 air defence system for Turkish Minister of Defence Yaşar Güler included that more than 100 firing tests have been conducted.

The briefing is included in footage of Yaşar Güler’s visit to the newly opened Air and Missile Defence Simulator Centre in Air Technical Schools Command in İzmir, where the Minister of Defence inspected the air defence systems. It is understood from the number of firing tests that the system was tested in different scenarios.

Secretary of Turkish Defence Industries Haluk Görgün announced the entry of the Siper Product-1 long-range air defence system into the inventory in October 2024. The deal for production was signed towards the end of 2023.

Assets and Capabilities of Siper Product-1

Product-1 is the first iteration of Siper long-range air defence system as the outermost layer of the Steel Dome integrated air defence system.

The Siper Product-1 missile used in the system is essentially a Hisar-RF medium-range air defence missile with modified guidance package including GNSS-supported midcourse guidance and a booster based on that of Atmaca anti-ship missile. Like Hisar-RF, Siper Product-1 has an active radar seeker and dual-pulse rocket motor for high kinematic performance at the terminal approach. The missile can reach a range of 100+ km and an altitude of 20+ km, with each trailer carrying six missiles.

There are two types of radars within the structure of a Siper battery: ALP 310-G S-band AESA early warning radar and AKREP 1000-G AESA multi-functional fire control radar. ALP 310-G serves as the main means of detection, while AKREP 1000-G is mainly intended for engagements with a secondary searching capability.

Flexible Architecture of Siper

Siper is designed as an upper-layer system, as stated before, and is open to upgrades or cooperation with other systems within the Steel Dome (Çelik Kubbe).

The next upgrade for Siper is the Product-2 missile, a larger mono-block missile with a more powerful seeker, 150+ km range, and 30+ km maximum altitude. Product-3 missile with a range of 180+ km and anti-ballistic missile capabilities will follow, but other details remain unknown.

New radars might also be added, such as ALP 500-G fixed early warning radar, ALP 400-G radar presumed to be a low-frequency radar, and ALP-150G/P presumed to be a passive radar.

 Author: Özgür Ekşi