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| Turkey Uses Own Engine For SOM Cruise Missiles |
Ankara - No longer using the Safran-made engine, France will now use their domestically-made engine to power the SOM (Satha Atılan Orta Menzilli Mühimmat) cruise missile. This step is taken by Ankara to prevent serious problems of dependence on foreign-made components.
Turkey's first cruise missile, the SOM, still uses the TR40 engine made by Safran. But now the Turkish company Kale Arge has developed the KTJ-3200 turbojet engine as a replacement for the TR40.
Previously, Turkey also made the TF-6000 engine which will be used for the Kizilelma UCAV which allows it to fly up to Mach 2 speed. The use of the French-made engine by the Turkish Armed Forces is actually not a problem.
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| SOM Air-to-Surface Cruise Missile |
However, problems then arise when there is a political disagreement between Turkey and France which is more in favor of Greece, Turkey's enemy.
France has banned Turkey from exporting SOM cruise missiles with the Safran TR40 engine. With the use of self-produced engines, Azerbaijan one of the first customers of SOM was able to receive this cruise missile as he wanted.
As previously reported by Turkish media, Azerbaijan has wanted to buy Turkish SOM cruise missiles for years. An agreement was recently reached between Ankara and Baku regarding the sale of the missile. Turkey is already expecting an increase in the speed of the SOM cruise missile. The KTJ-3200 turbojet engine is also starting to enter serial production.
Thus, Azerbaijan will receive the desired number of cruise missiles on time. Sources from Turkey claim that there are currently 400 requests for the purchase of SOM cruise missiles. If the information proves to be correct, the production line will be congested at least until the end of 2023. Turkey has been developing the SOM cruise missile since 2006 under the leadership of Tubitak Sage.
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| Prototype of Turkey SOM Air-to-Surface Cruise Missile |
This missile has a flexible modular structure and an open system. This has allowed the development of different variants with different operational capabilities and flexibility.
The SOM has a total weight of 600 kg, including its warhead which weighs 230 kg. This 4 m long missile has an operational range of more than 250 km. Turkish sources said the SOM designer Roketsan is currently working on different variants, such as the SOM-B2, SOM-C1, SOM-C2, and SOM-J.
The SOM is an autonomous, stealth, and high-precision next-generation cruise missile. high-precision cruise missile developed by TÃœBÄ°TAK SAGE. The Turkish Air Force has been using this missile since 2017 as armament for the F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-4 Phantom II.