New Turkish cruise missile capable of flying even into a cave

Alexander Sychev

The Turkish company Roketsan is engaged in its development and production. The start of arming is scheduled for 2023.

A feature of Çakir is that it will be a universal rocket. It will be possible to launch it from any aircraft and helicopters, any large drones, tactical ground vehicles and naval surface ships. It will destroy any ground and surface targets, since interchangeable warheads for various purposes have been created for this missile - to strike at areas, individual targets, concrete structures and even caves.

The mention of caves in the list of possible targets is not accidental. Turkey has long been trying to create weapons that could be used to hit natural shelters in the mountains in South-Eastern and Eastern Anatolia. The largest number of Kurds living in Turkey is concentrated there, and since the 1920s there has been an armed confrontation between Ankara and the Kurds who are fighting for their independence. Collisions then subside, then become aggravated, but do not stop.

The caves are used by Kurdish separatists to organize their bases and warehouses. The new cruise missile can now be directed directly into the entrance of the cave and blown up there, filling up everything and everyone inside the mountain.

The Çakir cruise missile is also remarkable in that it has become another achievement of Turkey, which has been pursuing a policy of self-reliance in ensuring the country's security for decades. Self-orientation is the result of the unequal attitude of the West towards its eastern partner: Turkey, a NATO member, is stubbornly not accepted into the European Union, contrary to promises, access to some modern technologies is limited, and even sanctions are sometimes announced against it, in particular, for cooperation with Russia.

Today, the policy of relying on one's own strength is producing noticeable results - for example, the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones are well known. Çakir is also a completely Turkish development. It is driven by a KTJ-1750 turbojet engine, created by the Turkish company Kale Arge. The design range of the Çakir missile with this engine exceeds 150 kilometers.

The approach route is programmed in advance, but if necessary, already in the air, in the middle and even at the end, you can change the target and even redirect the missile to another location. Although, according to the Turks, Çakir is a fairly smart system and is able to complete the task in any scenario of external circumstances, nevertheless, a person retains control over it to the end. He decides to change the target, he can interrupt the attack altogether or send the missile on a second run, and, finally, the operator gives the order to strike.

The commands from the operator and the data collected by the rocket are sent via a network channel to the control panel, as well as to other Çakir, if the attack is carried out by a swarm - a group of ammunition. The tactic of simultaneously using a large number of autonomous munitions is a popular idea among the leading military countries of the world today. So, it is easier to overcome enemy defense systems and you can hit several targets at once, increasing the level of damage.

During the flight, the Çakir missile collects a fairly large amount of tactical data. It has various target seekers, including an infrared homing head, a radio guidance system, and an ultrasonic distance measurement sensor. All this equipment allows you to get an idea of the war zone. The collected data is processed by computers and ensures high hit accuracy regardless of weather conditions.

It is also claimed that the new cruise missile is able to survive in the face of active opposition. The designers tried to minimize the effect of electromagnetic interference on navigational instruments. Çakir checks the flight path not only with the data of the global navigation satellite system. It also has an inertial navigation system linked to an altimeter.

The Turkish missile, like all its relatives created in other countries, flies at minimum altitudes - below the level of detection by most radar stations. In addition to this, the applied radar-absorbing materials reduce its visibility, increasing the chance to slip through the enemy's air defenses intact.