Earlier this month, Turkey’s Roketsan bidded farewell to Mr. Selçuk YAŞAR, President and CEO since 2012, due to his retirement.
Mr. YAŞAR took part in many crucial projects and greatly contributed to the development of the company since it was founded in 1988. The company thanked Mr. YAŞAR for his endeavors and contributions to Roketsan, Roketsan family and Turkey.
Mr. Murat İKİNCİ (photo), who has been working in the defence industry for 20 years, has been appointed as the new President & CEO of Roketsan. Having undertook critical roles in many senior-level defence projects including NATO projects, Mr. Murat İKİNCİ worked as Senior Executive in STM as of 2008, which later led him to become a successful President and CEO in 2018 that he has carried out until today.
Roketsan was founded on 14 June 1988 by the decision of the Defence Industries Executive Committee for the purpose of “Establishing a leading institution in the country for designing, developing and manufacturing rockets and missiles”.
Under the ‘European Common Stinger Production Project’ the domestic production of critical systems, which are composite fueled launching and flight motors and propulsion systems, was undertaken by Turkey. Because the composite solid fuel technology was not available in Turkey at the time, Ministry of National Defence (MSB) agreed to establish a new company for producing composite fueled launching and flight motors.
While meeting the requirements of the Stinger Consortium fully and on time, thanks to the suitable strategies adopted to fulfill its objectives Roketsan also succeeded in adapting the transferred technologies to new products. Having exceeded the expectations, Roketsan has formed a national industry highly specialized in the field of rockets/missiles.
Construction of facilities started on an approximately 1,000 decare area in Elmadağ, leased to Roketsan by Undersecretariat of Defence Industries (SSM). The construction of the buildings and infrastructure necessary for the production was completed in 1991.
Following the completion of the missile design infrastructure development project in 1995 which started in 1992, “design focused” era began for Roketsan. Thanks to this infrastructure, aiming at becoming the responsible party for the system, design, development and production of originally designed, composite fueled TR-107 Rocket with a range of 11 km and TR-122 Rocket with a range of 40 km as well as 122 mm Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) System T-122 were developed to meet the requirements of the Turkish Armed Forces before the Stinger Project was completed in 1999. As much more developed systems than their equivalents all over the world, inclusion of these systems in the Land Forces Command inventory in 1996 became a significant milestone both for Roketsan and Turkish Armed Forces.
The production infrastructure was strengthened and diversified with the aim to carry out the projects initiated by the Ministry of National Defence in the late 1990’s to produce long-range rockets and missiles to increase the firepower of our Turkish Land Forces in depth. In this process during which new technologies were acquired, Kasırga Rocket and Weapon System and Yıldırım Missile and Weapon System were included in the inventory of the Turkish Armed Forces.
During the CİRİT 2.75” Laser Guided Missile project initiated by the Ministry of National Defence in 2004 to meet the requirements of the Land Forces, advance technologies were developed such as Laser Guidance, Intermediate Stage Guidance, Insensitive Rocket Motor and Insensitive Warhead.
In 2004, export contracts were signed for rockets and weapon systems produced with original designs. Thus, product and service sales to foreign countries started at a system level.
As of 2005, with the unique missile systems initiated by Undersecretariat of Defense Industries UMTAS Long Range Anti-Tank Missile System, OMTAS Medium Range Anti-Tank Weapon System and HİSAR Air Defence Missiles, a wide industrial structuring started with Roketsan as the prime contractor, thanks to the projects carried out within the scope of these systems’ development.
The establishment of Ballistic Protection Center (BPC) housing the infrastructure required for the design, development, production and testing of the armor of ALTAY National Tank as well as various armor systems started in November 2009 in line with the agreement concluded between SSM and Roketsan. The facility was commissioned in 2010 by Roketsan.
CİRİT 2.75” Laser Guided Missile was introduced to Turkish Armed Forces inventory in May 2012.
Tapasan A.Ş. was incorporated into Roketsan in 2012, with the objective to meet the fuze requirements of Turkish Armed Forces.
In 2016, Roketsan qualified Smart Micro Munition (MAM). Developed by Roketsan in line with today’s battlefield requirements, MAM attracted attention as a solution that increases the efficiency of air platforms with low payload capacity, especially that of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
In 2017, environmental condition and integration tests of TEBER Guidance Kit which can be used in 4 different guidance modes were completed. Project with Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB) regarding the contract for the procurement of TEBER is ongoing. In 2018, integration of TEBER Guidance Kit on F-16 was completed and the product entered the Turkish Air Force inventory.
Last year, at IDEF 2019, Roketsan has displayed a variety of products for the first time: ALKA Directed Energy Weapon System, ATMACA Anti-Ship Missile, CİDA Missile, CİDA Launcher, Micro-Satellite Launching System (MSLS), TANOK 120 mm Laser-Guided Missile, YATAĞAN® Laser Guided Miniature Missile System and K+ Missile System.
After securing the 98th position on the Top 100 The Largest Defence Companies list for the year of 2017, Roketsan has moved up to the 96th position in 2018 and 89th in 2019.
