HISAR (surface to air missile system)


The HİSAR is a family of short-range to long-range surface to air missile systems being developed by Aselsan and Roketsan since 2007. It consists of the HİSAR-A low altitude air defense system, HİSAR-O medium range air defence system and HİSAR-U long range air defence system. Guidance is infrared homing.

Development history

On 18 April 2007, the Turkish Undersecretariat for Defence Industries issued a request for information to international and domestic defence companies to meet a low to medium altitude air defense requirements under Turkey's Low Altitude Air Defence Missile System programme or Alçak İrtifa Hava Savunma Füze Sistemi in Turkish. A total of 18 companies responded to the RFI.
A subsequent request for proposal was issued on 28 September 2008, for the direct acquisition of 18 systems and options for up to 27 additional systems.
The contract was eventually awarded to Aselsan as the prime contractor on 20 June 2015. Other sub-contractors include Tübitak Sage for warhead and battery and Meteksan Savunma for data link. The award consist of a low-altitude system for 314,9 million euros and a medium-altitude system for 241,4 million euros.
Missile tests of Hisar-A begun in 2013 and Hisar-O begun in 2014.
On 8 December 2016 Hisar-O conducted its first missile test with successfully.
In a test on 7 December 2017, a steep-trajectory firing was carried out for the first time from the HİSAR systems, while their 360-degrees protection was also tested successfully.Flight and ballistic tests were also carried out.For the first time in the campaign, within which control and guidance capabilities of the HİSAR missiles met expectations, radar, command-control and fire control, electro-optic and communications elements of the HİSAR systems were also included for the first time. Target aircraft, target detection and follow-up, command and fire control and mid-range bombsight tests were successfully performed.
On 1 February 2018 Hisar-A conducted a successful missile test in Aksaray province of Turkey. On 12 October 2019, Hisar-A finish its final development tests and approved by the defence ministry for mass production. Ismail Demir, the head of Turkey's Presidency of Defense Industries told Hisar-A will enter the inventory in 2020, in a press conference in the capital Ankara.

Operational history

On 3 March 2020, Turkey said the system would be deployed in Syria's Idlib province as part of Operation Spring Shield. Bangladesh has also expressed interest in the HISAR-O air defense system.

HİSAR-A

HİSAR-A is based on an FNSS ACV-30 tracked vehicle chassis armed with four vertical launched Hisar-A short-range missiles supplied by Roketsan. The tracked Hisar-A system mounts its own mast-mounted KALKAN Air Defence Radar and an electro-optic/infrared system, allowing it to operate as an independent standalone system without the need to operate as a battery with a separate FCS.
It was announced in 2020 that some orders on HİSAR-A would be replaced in favour of HİSAR-O which has a slightly longer effective engagement range and higher maximum altitude despite the size staying the same.

HİSAR-O

HİSAR-O is a vertical launched medium-range SAM system mounted on a Mercedes-Benz Zetros chassis. After the increasing Turkish activity in Libya and Syria a new extended range variant of Hisar-O was allegedly deployed to borders in June 2020.
HİSAR-U aka Siper is a long-range SAM system being developed at National Technology Development Infrastructures. It is mounted on 8x8 MAN Türkiye trucks.