PMS Delivery Accomplished
Delivery of Turkey’s first national air defence system Pedestal Mounted Stinger (PMS) developed by Aselsan has been completed and last five PMSs were delivered to Turkish Armed Forces with a ceremony.
Undersecretary for Defence Industries Murad Bayar, in his speech during the ceremony at Aselsan premises declared that the PMS project took the lead among many applications in Turkey’s defence sector. Bayar stated that many foreign alternatives were evaluated when the idea of such a project emerged, but after a very tough decision process the option of developing a national air defence system domestically was selected and he said: "We went through harsh arguments but thankfully the project was launched in this way and as of today the system became a perfect product".Bayar spoke highly of the state of Turkish defence industry both in production and design aspects and their priority in the future projects would be to strengthen the capacity and capability of the Turkish Armed Forces. Bayar continued as:"Domestic design was an exception in the years when we first discussed this project, now buying premade systems became an exception. With the technology we have now owing to this project, firing control systems for the tanks and remote controlled weapon systems and other air defence systems were built. All these projects stem from the PMS project. Baring in mind that we have been carrying out more than hundred projects,try to envision what will happen 20 years later".
Aselsan’s Chairman of the Board Necmettin Baykul mentioned that they built 18 PMS systems for the Royal Netherlands Army and that the customer satisfaction was at high level. Baykul stated that the post guarantee maintenance services and spare parts supply is continuing and said: "I hope to sign a similar contract with the Turkish Armed Forces for a PMS project ten times bigger than this".
One of the prominent figures of the low altitude air defence systems, the PMS uses the Stinger Missile as the main weapon and has all its functions monitored by computers, thus based on high technology it is a highly improved defence system. The idea of a PMS project started in 1989 with the needs analysis and conceptual design and became real with the signature of a series of production contracts in 2001, following the feasibility, configuration determining and developing studies.
PMS Systems went through severe tests and field tests within the scope of prototype development and mass production qualification approval procedures and shot straight in all the firings. PMS System was selected by the Royal Netherlands Army eliminating two German firms in a tender in 2005. PMS System was presented with two different configurations namely Atılgan and Zıpkın. The systems are mounted in the armored tracked vehicle Atılgan which is developed to prevent the mobilized armored troops from air raids and a stabilization system allowing the Stinger Missiles even while the vehicle moves is included as well.The latter configuration Zıpkın is developed to protect the Land, Naval and Air Forces’ stations and troops. All the units of Zıpkın and Atılgan are monitored by computers and missiles are directed towards the tracked targets and fired automatically night and day under any weather conditions.
