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Türkiye will begin mass production of its Tayfun Block-4 hypersonic ballistic missile in 2026, Roketsan General Manager Murat Ikinci announced during a defense industry panel in Ankara.
Speaking at the "From Roots to Horizons: The Rise Story of Turkish Defense Industry" panel at the Presidential Communications Directorate on August 29, Ikinci revealed that test firings of the advanced missile system would occur soon, with serial production set to commence next year.
"Tayfun Block-4 is a hypersonic ballistic missile," Ikinci said, explaining that while all ballistic missiles can exceed Mach 5 speeds, the critical factor is maintaining hypersonic velocity throughout flight and striking targets at speeds above Mach 5.
The new missile variant was first displayed at IDEF 2025, where Ikinci detailed its technical specifications. He emphasized that Tayfun Block-4 emerged from Roketsan's internal research and development efforts as a continuation of the Tayfun missile family.
"Tayfun is already in serial production with deliveries continuing to the Turkish Armed Forces. But Tayfun is a family. This family will have other members. According to mission type, warhead configuration, and mission requirements, the Tayfun family is expanding in different blocks," Ikinci stated.
Aselsan General Manager Ahmet Akyol, speaking at the same panel, attributed Türkiye's defense industry achievements to a combination of forward-looking state policy, national stance, public support and engineering expertise across all companies.
"Visitors to our company ask how we achieved this story. Forward-looking state policy and the national stance behind it, the support of the Turkish people, and of course the engineers of all our companies - we are all part of this together," Akyol said.
The Aselsan chief highlighted how the company, which started 50 years ago with four people in an apartment, now produces critical technologies ranging from communications and radar to electro-optics and navigation systems.
He noted that initial funding for Aselsan's first facility in Ankara's Yenimahalle district came from citizen donations collected in Sakarya province's town square.
Akyol predicted that Türkiye's Kizilelma unmanned combat aircraft would transform military operations through its swarm capabilities, low visibility profile and operational concepts.
"Just as we changed the rules globally with UAVs, just as we achieved a world first with UAVs taking off and landing from ships, with Kizilelma, Türkiye will move to a different league in UAVs. Kizilelma will change the paradigm as a primary asset with its swarm capabilities, low visibility, and operational concept," Akyol stated.
He emphasized that Türkiye has become the world's first country to develop a dedicated UAV carrier ship, with successful takeoff and landing operations already completed.
Ikinci outlined Türkiye's evolving defense export strategy, emphasizing capability transfer rather than simple arms sales.
"Türkiye is opening this capability to friendly and allied countries. This includes both joint production and joint program development. Countries don't just receive a weapon system - they add a capability, a new competence to their armed forces," he explained.
The Roketsan chief noted that Turkish UAVs can now deploy weapons ranging from laser-guided smart munitions to supersonic and cruise missiles, creating an attack capability portfolio unmatched globally.
"There is no other example in the world that can offer products in this diversity," Ikinci said, adding that Turkish Armed Forces have reached the point of winning battles using domestically produced anti-tank systems in both counterterrorism operations and frontline combat.
Akyol revealed that elements of Türkiye's Steel Dome air defense system have been delivered to inventory, with Aselsan selected as one of five companies worldwide in NATO's Air Defense System Architecture Competition.
"This proved our competence in this field. Today, Türkiye has reached a level where it can produce and export platforms," Akyol said, noting that nearly all missiles for the Steel Dome system are produced by Roketsan.
Ikinci emphasized ongoing investments in advanced technologies including hypersonic systems, space technologies, submarine missile systems, advanced materials and radar systems.
"We have many announced projects and many unannounced projects," he said, expressing confidence that Türkiye's young engineering workforce would rapidly surpass countries that invested in defense industries much earlier.
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