Turkish long-range indigenous air defence missile Siper during a test firing, Nov. 6, 2021

Turkey has successfully test-fired its high-altitude long-range air defence missile system, Siper, a top defence official said Saturday.

Different tests of the domestic air defence system, which is planned to enter the army's inventory in 2023, will continue, Ismail Demir, the head of Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB), tweeted.

He said Turkey will continue to produce new weapons and will have up to six different air defence systems.

The Siper project is led by Turkey's defence giants Aselsan, Roketsan and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK)'s Defence Industries Research and Development Institute (SAGE).

Developed to protect strategic facilities against enemy attacks within the scope of regional air defence, Siper will allow air defence 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 defence systems are also in place, systems set to outline a layered air defence for the country, as mentioned several times by the officials.

In this context, the first delivery within the scope of serial production of Korkut systems was carried out in 2019, and the pedestal-mounted air defence system Sungur was also put into service.

Developed by Roketsan, Sungur will be integrated in land, air and sea platforms with its portable feature.

The air defence system has the capability of shooting while moving, along with effective target detection, diagnosis, identification, tracking and 360-degree shooting capability day and night.

Sungur is ahead of its class in terms of effectiveness, high manoeuvrability, high target-hit capacity and countermeasures. It is equipped with a titanium warhead and has sighting capabilities allowing the target to be viewed from a long range.

While the deliveries of the low altitude air defence missile system Hisar-A missiles have started, the mass production of the Hisar-O missiles have also begun. The interception range of the Hisar-A system is 15 kilometers (9.3 miles), while that of the Hisar-O system is 25 kilometers. Siper, on the other hand, is intended to be at a level that can compete with the S-400.

In March, the Hisar-O+ medium-range air defence system, the upgraded version of Hisar-O, successfully completed a test firing, which was the longest range and the highest altitude test conducted in the country to date. The air defence system is expected to destroy all kinds of air threats created by fixed and rotary winged aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and air-to-surface missiles in adverse weather conditions.