ANKARA, Türkiye — Türkiye’s Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) has officially awarded Aselsan a landmark procurement contract valued at €2.46 billion ($2.75 billion) for Hybrid Air Defense Systems. Marking the largest single contract in Aselsan’s 51-year corporate history, the multi-year deal accelerates the serial production and deployment of integrated point air defense solutions directly tied to Türkiye’s multi-layered “Steel Dome” (Çelik Kubbe) air defense architecture.
The procurement primarily centers around Aselsan’s GÜRZ family of Hybrid Air Defense Systems, which fuse gun-based hard-kill firepower, short-range surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), soft-kill electronic warfare (EW) jammers, and advanced Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar suites onto mobile tactical chassis. Designed to operate autonomously or fully integrated into networked battle management nodes, GÜRZ delivers 360-degree close-in protection against low-altitude threats, including First-Person View (FPV) drones, loitering munitions, cruise missiles, helicopter gunships, and low-RCS air-to-surface ordnance.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS: ASELSAN GÜRZ HYBRID AIR DEFENSE SYSTEM FAMILY
* Primary Developer & Manufacturer: Aselsan A.Ş. (Under SSB Auspices)
* System Classification: Mobile Hybrid Short-Range / Very Short-Range Air Defense System (VSHORAD/SHORAD)
* Architectural Network Integration: Steel Dome (Çelik Kubbe) Layered Air Defense System
* Primary Platforms & Vehicle Variants:
* GÜRZ 200: Heavy 8×8 wheeled tactical truck chassis w/ high-capacity kinetic and missile payload
* GÜRZ 140: Armored combat vehicle (8×8 AFV) variant optimized for high-mobility tactical armor support
* Multi-Tier Ordnance & Effector Suite:
* Kinetic Autocannon: 35 mm automatic revolver cannon executing high-rate airburst fragmentation (ATOM 35mm) firing modes
* Very Short-Range Missile (VSHORAD): 4x to 8x SUNGUR infrared-homing (IR) missiles (Operational Range: Up to 8 km)
* Short-Range Missile (SHORAD): 4x GÖKSUR vertical-launch air defense missiles (derived from BOZDOĞAN WVRAAM | Operational Range: Up to 15 km)
* Soft-Kill Countermeasures: Integrated KANGAL electronic warfare (EW) directional jammer array for C-UAS signal disruption
* Sensor, Radar & Fire Control Architecture:
* Surveillance & Tracking Radar: Four fixed AESA active radar panels providing continuous 360-degree azimuth coverage
* Target Engagement & Tracking Radar: AKREP 100-G dedicated fire control radar (FCR)
* Target Acquisition Electro-Optics: High-resolution thermal/day camera suite with laser rangefinder for optical tracking under radar-silent conditions
