IN Brief:
- ASELSAN demonstrated KORKUT 35 to delegations from 12 countries at the Karapınar test range in Konya.
- The 8×8 system engaged several UAV profiles and fired on a moving ground target while the vehicle was also moving.
- Gun-based counter-UAS systems provide an additional engagement layer alongside missiles, electronic warfare, and other air defence effectors.
ASELSAN has demonstrated the KORKUT 35 mobile air defence system during live firing at Karapınar in Konya, presenting the 8×8 wheeled configuration to defence delegations from 12 countries. The demonstration covered drone engagements, firing while moving, and a separate scenario involving a moving ground target.
KORKUT 35 engaged several unmanned target profiles under representative test conditions, including fixed-wing and delta-wing UAVs. In another scenario, the system fired against a moving ground target while the weapon platform was also in motion. That engagement requires the fire control system to calculate the relative movement of both objects while turret stabilisation compensates for vehicle motion, pointing error, recoil, and changing range.
The demonstrated system is integrated onto an 8×8 tactical wheeled vehicle, extending a KORKUT family that includes other mobile configurations. ASELSAN has continued production, delivery, and export demonstration activity around its 35mm air defence systems, with the latest event placing the wheeled configuration directly in front of prospective international users rather than limiting it to a static exhibition display.
KORKUT’s principal weapon is a twin 35mm gun installation using programmable airburst ammunition. ASELSAN’s published specifications for the KORKUT family describe stabilised firing on the move, radar and electro-optical target tracking, and use of ATOM 35 airburst ammunition against UAVs, cruise missiles, air-to-ground missiles, helicopters, and fixed-wing aircraft. The ammunition is programmed to disperse its effect around a calculated intercept point rather than depending solely on a direct projectile strike.
That architecture provides another layer within short-range air defence. Small drones and loitering munitions can be launched in numbers that place sustained pressure on missile inventories, while electronic warfare is not effective against every guidance method or operating mode. A gun system offers repeated engagements from an onboard ammunition supply, leaving longer-range guided weapons available for targets requiring their additional reach, speed, or guidance performance.
The engineering demands remain substantial. Small aerial targets can present limited radar and infrared signatures, so sensors need to detect and classify them early enough to create a firing solution. Tracking data must then be converted into gun pointing and ammunition programming while accounting for target manoeuvre, projectile flight time, environmental conditions, and the movement of the vehicle carrying the weapon.
Mobility adds mechanical and electrical constraints. Sensors, turret drives, computing, power generation, ammunition feeds, communications, and crew interfaces must continue functioning over uneven terrain, while the chassis absorbs the mass and recoil of twin 35mm guns. Stabilisation accuracy also has to remain within the tolerance required by the fire control solution as the suspension and vehicle structure move beneath the turret.
The presence of delegations from 12 countries places the firing inside an active export campaign, but attendance does not constitute a procurement decision. Prospective customers can use live events to examine engagement sequence, mobility, firing stability, target tracking, and ammunition behaviour before deciding whether to move into national trials. Any later acquisition could still require integration with local radar networks, command systems, identification equipment, communications, logistics, and a customer’s preferred vehicle architecture.
Those integration choices affect production as well as system performance. A common gun and fire control package can become substantially more expensive to support if every export user adopts different computers, radios, vehicle interfaces, sensors, or software. ASELSAN therefore has to balance national integration requirements against a controlled product baseline that can be manufactured and supported across several customers without creating a collection of bespoke variants.
KORKUT 35 enters a counter-UAS market increasingly divided among missiles, guns, electronic warfare systems, interceptor drones, and directed energy. The Karapınar demonstration supplied live-fire evidence of the wheeled system engaging several target profiles while moving. The next measure will come from national trials and contracts, where the configuration shown in Konya must translate into manufacturable customer systems without losing the commonality needed for serial production and long-term support.