Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the successful launch of the first home-made "air-to-air" missiles, which Turkey aims to equip its armed forces with in 2022.
Erdogan published - through his social media accounts - a video clip of the Bozdogan missile test operation from the F-16 (F-16), and its recording of an accurate hit on a target aircraft in the air called "Simsek".
Erdogan confirmed that the "Bozdogan" missiles succeeded in hitting the target during the first air test launch.
The video also includes the phrase "God willing," over the radio, when the missile is launched.
Türkiye, havadan havaya füze teknolojisine sahip sayılı ülkelerden biri olmayı başardı.
Genç teknisyen ve mühendislerimizin GÖKTUĞ projesinde geliştirdiği görüş içi hava-hava füzemiz BOZDOĞAN, ilk atışta hedefi tam isabetle vurdu.
Gençlere # Maşallah 🚀 # MilliTeknolojiHamlesi🇹🇷 pic.twitter.com/20P3RCbdtE
- Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) April 14, 2021
Erdogan has been following the "Go-to-Go" missile project personally since its inception in 2013. In 2018, he visited the Turkish Defense Industries Research and Development Institute, to be informed of the latest developments related to the development of "Gok Dogan" and "Bozdogan" missiles.
And in 2019, Erdogan said during a meeting of the Justice and Development Party’s parliamentary bloc in parliament that "air-to-air" missiles, which are being bought for millions of dollars, are now being produced domestically.
He added that the Bozdogan "air-to-air" missile launch tests, which will be integrated with our combat aircraft, have been successful, and have achieved accurate results.
The Bozdogan missiles were developed by the Institute for Research and Development in the field of defense industries "SIG", affiliated to the Scientific and Technological Research Authority of Turkey "TUBITAK".