Erdogan wants “steel dome” for Turkey

Erdogan announces his own missile defense shield like the Israeli “Iron Dome.” But Turkey lacks both money and know-how.

Ankara – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced a new military project. In the future, Turkey will have its own missile defense shield, similar to Israel. “We will hopefully develop our Steel Dome project, which we will implement as a system of systems with all its elements,” Erdogan announced on Saturday. “If any people have an iron dome, then we will have a steel dome,” said the Turkish head of state in his speech to soldiers. He is referring to the Israeli missile defense shield “Iron Dome.”

However, it is questionable whether such a thing is even possible. Since Turkey is a NATO member, such a shield would have to be able to be integrated into NATO's defense strategy. Turkey had previously purchased the Russian S-400 air defense system, which angered NATO. In response, the USA suspended Turkey from the F-35 program.

Türkiye is still waiting for the “Altay national tank” and the “Kaan national fighter aircraft”

Erdogan had announced several similar mega projects in the past, including the “Altay National Tank”. “In early 2023, we will celebrate the delivery of the Altay tank to the army,” Erdogan said in July 2021. The industry magazine Defense and Technology wrote in November 2018 that 250 Altay tanks were to be handed over to Turkey in a first tranche. So far, this is still far from happening.

The situation is similar with the “national fighter aircraft Kaan”. The Kaan is supposed to be a fifth-generation fighter jet, and thus, like the F-35, practically invisible on the radar screen. However, the prestige project is a long way from going into series production. In a pilot project, the aircraft only has engines from F-16 aircraft and most of the other components are also foreign.

Erdogan also announced moon landing for 2023

There is not much to see of the national space program in Turkey so far either. “In the first phase, we will reach the moon with our own national and domestic hybrid rockets, which we will put into low-Earth orbit at the end of 2023 and carry out a hard landing,” said Erdogan at the presentation of the national space program on February 9, 2021, which initially should be done in international cooperation. And that's not all, there will even be our own space station later. “The most important thing is that we have a spaceport.” Here, too, the project is to be realized “together with friendly and allied countries.” There has not been a Turkish moon landing to date, nor is it foreseeable that Turkey will get its own spaceport.