Turkey And Iran Show Off Their Homegrown Air Defense Systems

Turkey ended 2022 with a successful test-firing of its domestically-built Siper long-range air defense missile system against a target 62 miles away. The test came less than two months after Iran unveiled an extended-range version of its domestically-built Bavar-373, which it claimed successfully destroyed a target from 186 miles away.

Ismail Demir, head of Turkey’s Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB), lauded the Siper test in a Dec. 30 tweet, calling it “A New Year’s gift to our nation as we enter the Turkish Century from our defense industry.”

The Siper has the longest range in the series of air defense missiles Turkey has developed in recent years. Other systems Ankara built for this emergent layered national air defense include the short and medium-range Hisar-A and Hisar-O and the long-range Hisar-U. The Sungur and Korkut systems, designed for engaging targets under five miles, also provide a short-range, low-altitude defense suitable for protecting soldiers on the battlefield.

The Bavar-373, which entered service in August 2019, plays a similar role in Iran’s national air defense. In November 2022, Iran’s state-run media reported that an upgraded version had been developed and tested. In the test, the system’s radar purportedly detected a target from 280 miles away, tracked it from 250 miles, and destroyed it at a range of 186 miles using its new Sayyad-4B missile. One senior Iranian commander has even claimed the system can counter fifth-generation aircraft — although this, of course, has yet to be seen.

As Turkey demonstrated the Siper’s capability to hit targets over 60 miles away, Iran demonstrated its layered air defenses in the Zolfaqar 1401 military exercise it launched on Dec. 29.

According to Iranian media, an Iranian-built Mersad system tracked and shot down a drone operating at an altitude of 25,000 feet 93 miles outside of Iranian airspace during the exercise. The Mersad is based on the American MIM-23 Hawk system Iran acquired before the 1979 revolution. (Incidentally, the United States and Spain are supplying Ukraine with Hawk missiles to help Kyiv shoot down the Iranian-built drones Russia is using against it.)

Iran also used its short-range, low-altitude Majid air defense – which is in roughly the same category as Turkey’s Korkut and Sungur – and the long-range Khordad 15 and Talash systems in that exercise.

Aside from frequently highlighting their successful development of indigenous layered air defenses, Iran and Turkey have also claimed on various occasions that their Siper and Bavar-373 systems could even compete against Russia’s S-400.

The Turkish press invariably describes the Siper as a “rival” to the S-400. Similarly, when Iran unveiled the Bavar-373 in 2019, it claimed the system was more powerful than the S-300 and in league with the S-400. Iran operates an advanced variant of the S-300 it received in 2016. Turkey acquired the S-400 in 2019.

Ankara and Tehran ultimately plan to export variants of their homegrown systems.

Iran reportedly supplied Russia with one of its Bavar-373s early in the war in Ukraine. Various reports have indicated that Iran has at least tried to supply Syria with some of its advanced air defenses, although Israel will most likely preemptively prevent any attempt to deploy Iranian air defenses on Syrian soil. Iran is heavily sanctioned, and its military support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its violent domestic crackdown on protesters have made it even more unpopular and isolated. Consequently, any export clients Iran wins for its domestic air defenses will likely remain fellow pariah states.

Turkey, on the other hand, could win a more general market for its homegrown systems in the coming years. In November, it signed a contract with Indonesia for the supply of Khan short-range ballistic missiles (the export version of the Bora-1 Turkey unveiled in 2017) and an unspecified layered air defense system – possibly tailor-made export variants of the Hisar and Siper.

With Iran and Russia more isolated than ever, Turkey may well be able to win more customers for its indigenous systems in the coming years.