The first ship of İ-class frigates, the TCG Istanbul F515, has achieved a milestone by firing ROKETSAN’s HİSAR-D RF air defence missile from MİDLAS a Turkish indigenous vertical launching system (VLS). The test goes beyond firing a locally developed missile from a locally made vertical launch system. ASELSAN’s CENK-S AESA search radar, AKREP illumination radar, HAVELSAN’s ADVENT CMS, and SAPAN air defence fire control system were also involved in the firing. Making these systems work in coordination is at least as important as developing the missile and launcher. HİSAR-D RF is the naval version of HİSAR RF medium-range air defence missiles, with several adaptations for use on warships. Some of these include a new interface and a datalink. Just like its land-based counterpart, HİSAR-D RF has an active RF seeker and a dual-pulse rocket motor for enhanced terminal performance. In most cases, it will be named HİSAR-D to indicate it will have RF guidance. The current missile isn’t quad-packable due to its non-folding structure. However, ROKETSAN is working on the HİSAR-D Block 2 variant with a modified body and folding fins for the quad-pack feature.
(Render by Kaan Azman)
MİDLAS will additionally use SİPER Block 1-D and SİPER Block 2-D long-range air defence missiles. ROKETSAN is actively working on the naval version of SİPER Block 1, which has a range of 100+ km and GPS-assisted midcourse guidance. SİPER Block 2, with a longer range of 150+ km, can be expected to follow after SİPER Block 1.
