ASELSAN Steel Dome and DRONEDEF: Türkiye Integrated Layered Air Defence

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Integrated, layered air defence in contested environments

The steady advance of integrated, layered air defence continues. Where these systems were once treated as stand-alone pieces of equipment, they now need to be understood as networked building blocks inside a wider set of capabilities-built to counter airborne threats efficiently across the tactical, operational and strategic levels in contested battlespaces.

One of the clearest examples of this shift is coming from Türkiye, led by the domestic defence firm ASELSAN. According to company representatives during Zona Militar’s visit to ASELSAN’s systems integration facilities in Ankara, its Steel Dome air defence system is designed as a multi-domain, multi-layer, multi-sensor and multi-effector solution that also integrates artificial intelligence to confront threats that range from drones to aircraft and ballistic missiles.

Lessons drawn from operations in Syria gave ASELSAN and the Turkish Armed Forces an early appreciation of how drones and other unmanned platforms would reshape combat. That same trend later appeared at far greater scale in the Nagorno-Karabakh fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and then in its most dramatic form during the Russo-Ukrainian War.

ASELSAN stressed that air defence assets left to operate on their own-without fast, robust links to command-and-control centres and with only limited ability to detect, categorise and defeat threats-quickly become vulnerable to virtually any type of aerial vehicle.

That vulnerability is not a marginal concern. In pure efficiency terms, the fact that an air defence system priced in the millions-or even the hundreds of millions or billions-of dollars can be knocked out by one or several drones worth only a few thousand dollars underlines how the battlefield has changed, and how armed forces must adjust, develop and react if they are to endure.

Cost, sustainability and choosing the right effector

The same dynamic feeds directly into cost and long-term sustainability. Armed forces are increasingly pursuing capabilities that are not only effective, but also cost-efficient, available in quantity, and backed by stockpiles and industrial capacity sufficient to keep deployed units supplied during operations.

ASELSAN says that, after building these lessons into how it designs and assesses its systems, a central conclusion is straightforward: for each specific threat, the most economical and most suitable effector should be selected. Achieving that, however, demands the ability to detect, track, process, analyse, classify and neutralise targets within ever tighter time windows.

A further lesson reflected in Steel Dome is the requirement for very high processing capacity enabled by artificial intelligence, automated workflows and decision-support tools-intended to speed up human decision-making through continuous data feeds and redundant real-time information systems.

Introducing DRONEDEF, the first and last layer of defence of ASELSAN’s Steel Dome

During the Steel Dome visit, Zona Militar was able for the first time to closely examine what serves as both the opening and the final protective layer within the architecture: a component focused on defeating aerial threats such as FPV drones, loitering munitions, drone swarms and low-cost aircraft.

In this first layer, ASELSAN combines a broad set of soft-kill options-microwave systems, directed-energy weapons and electronic warfare capabilities-with more traditional hard-kill tools based on short- and very short-range air defence platforms. These include several KORKUT variants as well as other lower-calibre weapons.

Systems observed at ASELSAN’s Test Technology Centre (Gölbaşı)

During the visit, we were able to see several of the soft-kill systems first-hand and watch a live demonstration of their performance at ASELSAN’s Test Technology Centre in Gölbaşı.

One of the systems that stood out was the İHTAR counter-drone solution. Beyond the static exhibit, we also observed it operating. With a range exceeding 25 kilometres, İHTAR is intended both to detect and identify UAVs and drone swarms and to neutralise them, using a combination of AESA radar sensors and electro-optical systems that can track targets via TV cameras and thermal imagers.

Among directed-energy solutions-commonly referred to as laser systems-the GÖKBERK drew particular attention. ASELSAN presented a mobile configuration on a 6×6 truck fitted with a 5 kW laser, intended to engage short- and very short-range threats from 150 metres out to 2 kilometres. The company also displayed a higher-power version, designated GÖKBERK 10, equipped with a 10 kW laser.

Supporting these soft-kill options is the EJDERHA system, which uses high-power electromagnetic waves to disable and destroy the electronics and integrated circuits inside drones, allowing it to neutralise both single UAVs and drone swarms.

On the hard-kill side, the GÖKALP was especially notable. It applies a hit-to-kill approach by launching a physical interceptor to defeat drones at distances of up to 1,000 metres in its Class 1 configuration, and up to 7,000 metres in its Class 2 and Class 3 variants. ASELSAN presents it as a low-cost complement to the other systems described above.

It is also worth noting that DRONEDEF includes cannon-based and other compact weapon solutions, including the MİĞFER system. Its central purpose is to defend air defence systems themselves-because, like the assets they protect, they can also be targeted by drone strikes and other airborne threats.

MİĞFER uses lightweight 12 mm armament and is intended to sit alongside larger-calibre and more powerful air defence assets, such as the widely known 25 mm and 35 mm KORKUT variants. As needed, it can be installed and integrated on fixed weapon stations, armoured vehicles or utility vehicles.

Conclusions

Seeing DRONEDEF for the first time offered another illustration of the sophistication achieved by Türkiye’s defence industry overall, and by ASELSAN in particular. The company is clearly conscious of how quickly threats are changing, and of the requirement to continuously adapt.

To deal with that pace, ASELSAN has been investing heavily not only in infrastructure-by expanding its Ankara facilities-but also in ongoing workforce training and in artificial intelligence technologies intended to meet evolving customer requirements efficiently and effectively, informed by operational experience.

For that reason, while DRONEDEF is formally positioned as the first defensive layer, it can equally be viewed as both the first and the last line of protection within the Steel Dome air defence architecture.

As the Russo-Ukrainian War has shown, drones are no longer only launched from targets hundreds of kilometres away. They are increasingly employed from far shorter distances and, in some instances, from within the territory of the belligerent states themselves. A clear example is Operation Spider Web, carried out by Ukrainian forces, which involved moving disguised civilian lorries deep into Russian territory. These vehicles transported FPV drone launch systems hidden inside their trailers and were used to strike Russian Aerospace Forces air bases, especially those hosting strategic aviation assets.

These patterns help explain why systems like ASELSAN’s DRONEDEF have become essential for operations in contested environments that may be infiltrated in many ways-from the lorries used in Operation Spider Web to special operations forces deploying unmanned systems to attack and disable critical air defence assets, as seen in Israeli strikes against Iranian air defence systems in recent months.

Finally, for ASELSAN and for Türkiye more broadly, it is important to note that the country sits amid active conflicts and potentially unstable regions that could demand the deployment of Turkish Armed Forces capabilities. To the north is the continuing Russo-Ukrainian War, with no clear end in sight. To the east, long-running tensions persist involving Armenia, which recently fought a war with Azerbaijan-a country with which Türkiye shares deep geographic, historical, cultural and linguistic links. To the south-east, despite the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Syria still requires close attention. To the west, complex relations between Greece and Türkiye continue, particularly over Cyprus. Nor should the conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran be ignored, nor the potential consequences it could create for Türkiye despite the lack of direct borders with the latter two states.

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