Ankara: Turkish defense company Aselsan signed a contract worth approximately £1.47 billion ($1.68 billion) with the country's defense industry authority to expand the serial production of air defense systems. The agreement was signed with Trkiye's Secretariat of Defense Industries in addition to ongoing serial production projects, Aselsan said in a statement on Trkiye's Public Disclosure Platform (KAP).

According to Anadolu Agency, Aselsan CEO Ahmet Akyol remarked that the agreement would further bolster the serial production capacity of Trkiye's air defense systems and contribute to the country's multi-layered Steel Dome air defense architecture. "We continue to strengthen the Steel Dome," Akyol stated on the Turkish social media platform NSosyal. "With the support of our state, we will continue producing in high volumes and working resolutely for the security of our country," he added.

Steel Dome is designed as a system of systems capable of detecting, assessing, and intercepting aerial threats across different altitudes and ranges. Its layered architecture includes systems intended to counter low-altitude threats such as drone swarms and loitering munitions, as well as HISAR systems in the medium layer and the Siper system in the upper layer. All layers of the architecture were completed following the entry of the long-range Siper air defense system into the Turkish Armed Forces' inventory.

Steel Dome integrates air defense weapons, radars, electro-optical sensors, communications modules, and command-and-control centers within a single network. The architecture creates a common air picture, transmits data to operations centers in real time, and uses artificial intelligence-supported systems to assist decision-makers. Systems including Korkut, HISAR-A, Goker, Gokberk, HISAR-O, and Siper can operate in an integrated structure under Steel Dome, alongside sensors capable of tracking, identifying, and classifying targets.

Aselsan also supplies Hakim, the upper-level command-and-control system responsible for coordinating the components within the architecture. Hakim, Trkiye's first domestically developed air command-and-control system, is intended to ensure that sensors, weapons, and future air defense platforms operate in a coordinated and fully integrated manner.