Turkey plans to build its own anti-missile defence system

ANKARA: Turkey plans to build its own anti-missile system, which it has dubbed “Steel Dome”, the president of the country´s defence industry agency said on Wednesday.“Our national ´Steel Dome´ project will allow us to integrate our air defence systems, our sensors and our weapons in a single network,” Haluk Gorgun, president of the SSB agency, said in a video.

The project will be led by state-owned defence companies such as Aselsan, Roketsan and MKE, as well as by public research group Tubitak Sage.

According to Turkish public television TRT Haber, Steel Dome is intended to be an umbrella covering Turkish airspace and responding to threats “from the lowest to the highest altitudes” as well as from short to long range. SSB would not provide more details about the project when contacted by AFP.

Turkey has recently become a major defence exporter, particularly for drones, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a major supporter of the industry.