TÜBİTAK President Prof. A. Arif Ergin announced that the delivery of the first lot of the “Wing Assisted Guided Kit” developed by TÜBİTAK Defense Industry Research and Development Institute (SAGE) through domestic resources will launch in early May. Stating that the manufacturer for the industrial enterprise was determined for the serial production activities, Prof. Ergin expressed that they reached a contract stage. “In this way, the transformation process from the ‘R&D to Serial Production’ for the new guided kit to be included in the Air Forces Command’s inventory would be completed”, said Prof. Ergin and added that the Precision Guided Kit, which was previously developed by TÜBİTAK SAGE, had been included in the inventory of the Air Forces Command and it was being utilized actively in cross border operations.

Prof. A. Arif Ergin stated that the certification process of the Wing Assisted Guided Kit for the F4-2020 aircrafts was completed in January and for F16 fighter jets was accomplished in March. Sharing on the technical features of the Wing Assisted Guided Kit, Prof. Ergin said, “The Wing Assisted Guided Kit developed and manufactured local content, transforms the general purpose bombs of 250 kg and 500 kg weights at Air Forces Command’s inventory into air to ground long-range smart ammunition. The flight range of the Wing Assisted Guided Kit - a new member of the Guided Kits family - reaches up to 110 km. With the help of this flight range and striking capability, our aircrafts equipped with the Wing Assisted Guided Kit become capable of destroying the targets in zone by striking them to avoid contact with the threat”.

Prof: Ergin: “It creates high destruction at the target and collateral damage”

Prof. Ergin underlined that the Guided Kit does not require any propulsion systems for the long-range flight and continued, “This kit transforms the energy it gains through the firing altitude and speed into long-range flight by using its exterior geometry in the most efficient manner. The Wing Assisted Guided Kit, making a difference with the longest flight range among the inertial guided kits in similar class, takes its precise firing feature through the integrated guidance capability of the Inertial Navigation System and Global Positioning System. Firing its target under a precision of 6 meters provides high destruction at the target while causing collateral damage.

Underlining that they achieved important accomplishments with the Precision Guided Kit developed by SAGE in previous years, Prof. Ergin added that the kits were serially produced by various defense industry manufacturing companies through the technology transfer method. Prof. Ergin also expressed that they wish to advance their experience gained by SAGE in the kit projects in ‘from R&D to Serial Production’ transformation process and that they wish to reflect the aforementioned experiences to the manufacturing of the Wing Assisted Guided Kits. Noting that during the final stage of the design and development process of the Wing Assisted Guided Kit, Ministry of National Defense, Air Forces Command and SAGE conducted technology transfer and industrialization activities, Prof. Ergin added that the low level initial production was launched as a result of the activities last June.

Prof. Ergin: “We will continue to make successful leaps in our Defense Industry”

Mentioning that upon the successful development and manufacturing processes, the delivery of the first lot of the Wing Assisted Guided Kits will be realized in the beginning of May, Prof. Ergin noted that the manufacturer for the serial production activities was identified and that they reached the contract stage. Pointing out that the transformation from ‘the R&D to Serial Production’ in concern with the Wing Assisted Guided Kit to be included in the inventory of the Air Forces Command will be completed in this way, Prof. Ergin added that they will continue to make gainful leaps forward in order to increase Turkey’s success in the defense industry.