ANKARA

Türkiye will start mass producing three domestically designed and produced air defense systems, the country's Communications Directorate announced on Tuesday.

"To strengthen our country's air defense, decisions have been made for the new mass production of the SIPER, HISAR, and SUNGUR systems," the directorate said in a statement after a meeting of the Defense Industry Executive Committee in the capital Ankara.

Decisions on at least 25 different projects concerning the country's defenses were made at the meeting, chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Presidential Complex.

The Siper project is led by Türkiye's defense giants Aselsan and Roketsan, as well as the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TUBITAK).

Besides SIPER, which is expected to rival Russia's S-400, Türkiye has also developed the Korkut, Sungur, and Hisar air defense systems.

The committee also decided to mass produce various munitions, including the Akya torpedo and missiles Tayfun, Atmaca, TRLG-230, Karaok, Gokdogan, and Bozdogan.

"Various projects for the modernization of our F-16s, new electronic warfare and radar systems, various air, land, and naval platforms, communication and information systems, equipment and gear, simulation, logistics and cyber security have also been agreed on," said the statement.

The necessity to develop all manner of defense technology Türkiye purchases from abroad was emphasized by the committee for a "fully independent defense industry."