Turkish defense industry sources have given a promising update about Turkiye’s national ramjet air-to-air missile program which is known as Gökhan and is part of  GÖKTUĞ umbrella program. This project was launched by Turkiye to overcome the US pressures and to seek self-sufficiency in high-tech defense products.

GÖKTUĞ is a program run by TÜBİTAK-SAGE to develop four different air-to-air missiles that will be Turkey’s first domestic air-to-air missiles. These missiles will be able to be launched from future domestic Hürjet and TF-X aircraft as well as F-16s. So far details of 3 missiles have surfaced through Turkish defense sector news media. The missiles developed under this program are:

– Bozdoğan (Merlin): It is a close-range in-sight air-to-air missile. It uses an imaging infrared (IIR) seeker with all-round engagement capability and countermeasure capability. It has high thrust, low smoke solid fuel technology and electronic rocket motor aiming and ignition system. According to its manufacturer, it has enhanced agility thanks to thrust vectoring, a unique warhead for maximum probability of destruction, and a reliable fuze. It complies with MIL-STD-1553 and MIL-STD-1760 military standards and is designed for use with the LAU-129 guided missile launcher. It was successfully fired from an F-16 belonging to the Turkish Air Force in 2021. It can reach a speed of over Mach 4.

– Gökdoğan (Peregrine): It is a long-range out-of-sight air-to-air missile. Its estimated range is 35nm (65km), with performance similar to the American AIM-120 AMRAAM. It has solid state active radio frequency smart seeker, fire-forget feature and electronic counter-prevention. It uses data connection capable of data connection update with home jam techniques with all aspects engagement capability. It works with post-launch locking techniques. According to its manufacturer, it has high thrust, low smoke solid fuel technology and a fully electronic safe and reliable rocket engine armament and ignition system. It also has a warhead and reliable fuze designed for maximum destruction probability. It complies with MIL-STD-1553 and MIL-STD-1760 military standards and is designed for use with the LAU-129 guided missile launcher.

– Gökhan (Skykhan): The development of a ramjet-powered air-to-air missile was officially announced in August 2021. Gürcan Okumuş, director of TÜBİTAK SAGE, stated that more than 100 tests have been completed, including the ignition of the new ramjet engine.

As per latest news from Turkish Defense News, preliminary design of Ramjet engine has been completed while the work on liquid ramjet is also in progress. According to news, both projects are moving forward ahead of schdule. Türkiye is pressing for the development of long range ramjet powered air-to-air missile because rival Greece has already acquired French Rafael fighter along with Europe’s leading air-to-air missiles like Meteor with approximately 200-kilometer range and a No Escape Zone (NEZ) of around 50 kilometers.

News Desk