Development of Turkey’s Siper high-altitude long-range air defense missile system continues successfully and a new test will be held soon, Ismail Demir, head of the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) said Sunday.
Demir was speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) at the sidelines of Teknofest Azerbaijan, the first foreign edition of the leading Turkish aviation, space and technology festival.
"As Turkey puts forward ambitious projects and achieves them, we also ignite the spirit of unity, togetherness and success in the country," Demir said.
Along with that ignited spirit, the excitement, happiness, unity and solidarity among our young people is constantly developing, he said, adding: "As such projects increase, we see this in most of the defense industry projects, our project teams are working with all their strength for the happiness, welfare and security of our country. They are happy and proud to do this work."
Expressing that the tests in the Siper project continue one after another, Demir said that each test means testing a new capability, adding a new capability to the system, developing capabilities or taking it one step further.
"All of our tests have been very successful. The message that these tests give us is that we see with great pleasure that our Siper project is really on track, it is going very well," he explained.
Demir said that with such projects, Turkey will be completely excluded from "discussions such as 'Did they give the Patriots, did we buy SAMP/T, or whether an embargo was applied?'"
The Siper project is led by Turkey's defense giants Aselsan, Roketsan and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK)'s Defense Industries Research and Development Institute (SAGE).
Developed to protect strategic facilities against enemy attacks within the scope of regional air defense, Siper will allow air defense at long range and in the protection of distributed architecture.
Besides Siper, which is expected to rival Russia's S-400, the Korkut, Sungur and Hisar air defense systems are also in place, systems set to outline a layered air defense for the country, as mentioned several times by the officials.
Turkey-Azerbaijan cooperation
Commenting on the Turkish defense industry products used by Azerbaijan, Demir stated that the "fraternity" and "one nation" approach is not just words, and that emotional intimacy and the brotherly attitude between Turkey and Azerbaijan must take action somewhere.
He pointed out that working together in such projects and using products together reinforces the spirit of brotherhood.
"Teknofest will spread to other brotherly countries, and it will lead to the cooperation of the youth of the country, people who ponder on technology and the creation of common products," he said.
Demir added that Turkey’s door is open to those countries that are eager to cooperate.
First held in 2018, Teknofest kicked off on Thursday in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku and will last through Sunday.
The expansion of the event to neighboring Azerbaijan marks the latest show of close links between the two nations and their determination to strengthen partnerships and develop advanced technologies.
Last year saw Azerbaijan take part in the festival for the first time with 11 local companies and startups.
At the Baku event, companies and entrepreneurs are set to showcase their products and technical solutions.
On the entertainment side, the festival includes aerobatic flight shows from the Azerbaijani Air Force, the Turkish Air Forces Command Turkish Stars and Solo Türk, a vertical wind tunnel, water attractions, flight simulators and robots.