The introduction ceremony for the KGK Wing-Assisted Guidance Kit was held at the TÜBİTAK Feza Gürsey Conference Hall. The KGK was developed and produced by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, Defense Industries Research and Development Institute (TÜBİTAK SAGE) with national facilities. 

Mass production has been launched for the Wing-Assisted Guidance Kit (KGK), in order to acquire guidance and long-range capability for general purpose bombs.  It was designed and developed by TÜBİTAK SAGE which carries out its studies with the motto “National R&D for National Defense.”

Deputy Undersecretary for Defense Industries Mr. Mustafa Şeker delivered a speech at the introduction ceremony of the KGK by expressing their pride, as the procurement authority, in participating in the promotional meeting of such an important project and he stated the following regarding the launch of mass production of the KGK: “We are proud to cater to our country with this product that we have been striving to procure abroad.  For years, we have been involved in multiple procurement negotiations. We occasionally achieved a timely purchase, but at times we were given a late delivery plan.”

Stating that this project gathered the institutes, R&D companies and Defense Industry companies, Mr. Şeker added: “We often have difficulties in the transition process from design to production. Today we are proud of having overcome all of these challenges. With this success that we have achieved here, I expect we can also perform successfully in our future projects.”

TÜBİTAK President Prof. Arif Ergin: “This will be a project where Turkey’s Strength is appreciated”

TÜBİTAK President Prof. Arif Ergin stated that the weapon system developed with national potential will reduce the foreign dependency of the Turkish Armed Forces.  With the abilities of the Turkish defense industry this project will be an important impetus for other nationalization efforts carried out in the defense industry.

Prof. Ergin also underlined that the test-fires were made for entry into the inventory within the scope of the program and tests were completed with minimal need for preproduction. 

Prof. Ergin noted that, as TÜBİTAK SAGE, they contributed to the development of the defense industry with sub-contractors who will be involved in the production and said: “We leave behind the days when we said, ‘Why can’t we execute our own production?’ We are now achieving this; we have the potential to also surpass these achievements. Not only TÜBITAK, but also our universities, industry, the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries and the Turkish Armed Forces have meaning in harmony. From now on, we possess ammunition that we introduce into the inventory. We are at a point between 6 and 7 for our level of technological readiness as appraised by the Undersecretariat for Defense Industry.” 

Emphasizing the importance of launching domestic products especially with military technologies, Prof Ergin said, “Many products in Turkey have been brought to the forefront with technology development by TÜBITAK, but unfortunately we were not able to achieve the same success in the sense of converting them into commercial value in the market.  We also haven’t created a significant reputation in the international arena either. We must criticize ourselves here. We are not at a satisfactory level regarding the mass production of SOM missiles. We have lost a lot of time between the process of inventory acceptance and mass production. In light of the experiences we’ve gained in this area, we are concentrating efforts on not repeating the same mistakes. In the near future we will bear witness to the successful utilization of these munitions.” 

The Design and Production of Critical Subsystems Used in Wing-Assisted Guidance Kit also Realized by TÜBİTAK SAGE with Local Resources

KGK is a wing-assisted guidance kit that converts existing unguided 1000 lb MK-83 and 500 lb MK-82 general purpose bombs into long-range, air-to-ground smart weapons. Through KGK, the bombs have the capability of a precision hit with up to a 10m error from a range of 110 km, under all weather conditions. This provides aircraft the ability to complete missions safely without getting closer to threatening zones.

KGK strikes the target with high precision using GPS/ING capability.  It is capable of reaching a maximum of 60nm when released from high altitudes and 20nm when released from low altitudes. 

In addition to the successful completion of the design, integration and production of KGK systems, TÜBİTAK SAGE also realized the design and production of various critical subsystems such as thermal batteries and some pyrotechnic components used in the KGK with national facilities and at its own facilities.