Expanding Horizons

Turkish defence firm ROKETSAN is eyeing further expansion of its presence in Indonesia, where the company’s advanced technologies, particularly in naval weapon systems, anti-ship missiles, precision-guided munitions, coastal defence systems, and air defence solutions are in demand. In an exclusive interview with GBP Daily News, Murat İkinci, ROKETSAN CEO, says the firm will sign its first product contract for the ÇAKIR surface-to-surface missile at the ongoing show. İkinci highlights that ROKETSAN’s presence in Indonesia is key to the company’s plans to increase its presence in Southeast Asia.

What are the opportunities that ROKETSAN views in Indonesia?

Indonesia is a rapidly developing country with significant strategic importance, offers vast opportunities for ROKETSAN, and is a key partner for our company in Southeast Asia. Indonesia’s military is undergoing significant modernization, particularly in naval and missile systems. Indonesia’s ongoing efforts to enhance its defence capabilities align perfectly with ROKETSAN’s advanced technologies, particularly in naval weapon systems, anti-ship missiles, precision-guided munitions, coastal defence systems, and air defence solutions.

As the largest archipelagic country, Expanding Horizons Indonesia faces unique maritime challenges. Indonesia views Turkish systems as suitable for surveilling and defending its vast maritime borders. ROKETSAN’s expertise in anti-ship missiles, naval defence systems, and coastal defence systems can address these needs effectively. In the past 4 years, Indonesia has become a notable importer of Türkiye’s indigenous weapon systems, ordering long-range artillery missiles, anti-ship missiles, air defence systems, and precision-guided munitions. We continue to negotiate additional product deals in the Indonesian market

Collaborating with Indonesia not only strengthens ROKETSAN’s presence in Southeast Asia but also opens doors to regional defence cooperation and potential new markets. It also represents an important step in the growing influence and capabilities of Türkiye’s defence sector on the global stage.

Indonesia has a strong local defence industry. What are the local partnerships and market areas that ROKETSAN would be keen to proceed with?

ROKETSAN recognizes and respects Indonesia’s strong emphasis on local industrial participation and self-reliance in defence production, and is ready to engage in joint ventures, providing technology transfer to bolster Indonesia’s local manufacturing capabilities. This ensures sustainable, indigenous production in line with Indonesia’s goals.

As you may recall, in February 2025, during President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Indonesia, we concluded a Joint Venture Agreement with our local partner. As a follow-up to this agreement, we will sign our first Product Contract for ÇAKIR surface-to-surface missile during Indo Defence 2025.This is an important step forward in the right direction to foster Indonesian national defence capacity and to align with Indonesia’s self-reliance objective in Defence industry.

Some of the key areas of collaboration include:

• Guided weapon systems, including missiles and rockets
• Development of integrated air defence systems
• Coastal and maritime defence solutions
• UAV payloads and smart munitions

Our main goal is to elevate our friendship and cooperation to a much stronger level across all fields. We aim to work closely with Indonesia’s defence firms and research institutions to enhance technical expertise and create job opportunities within the local industry.

ROKETSAN has a growing portfolio of precision weapons that can be launched from UAVs. What are the latest developments in this arena?

Interest in Turkish defence industry products and the demand for those used especially by the Turkish Armed Forces have been growing worldwide, with ammunition, missiles, and rockets being no exception. ROKETSAN, as a leading rocket and missile manufacturer that developed the smart munition fired from Türkiye’s world-renowned combat drones, is now expanding these capabilities into the Far East with its missiles developed with national resources. ROKETSAN has made significant strides in precision-guided munitions designed for UAV platforms. We are undertaking extensive internal R&D projects to diversify UAV products and to add additional capabilities to the products. We continue by integrating multi-featured, important, privileged technologies into the mini smart ammunition family.

Let me mention some of these mini smart munitions

• The MAM-L and MAM-C continue to demonstrate exceptional performance with their precision targeting and compatibility with a variety of UAVs
• The newly developed MAM-T offers extended range and increased payload capacity, ideal for high-endurance UAV missions.
• In addition to the existing laser guidance capability we developed Imaging Infrared (IIR) guided versions of our Smart Micro Munition (MAM) family.

We are working with Indonesian MOD regarding the procurement of MAM-L smart munition, and this will be one of the products to take its place in Indonesian inventory soon.

Our systems are optimized for seamless integration with different UAV platforms, including medium and high-altitude long-endurance drones.

ROKETSAN is investing in improved seeker technologies and enhanced guidance systems including laser, infrared, and GPS guided options to ensure these munitions meet evolving operational needs.

What are the latest developments related to ROKETSAN’s Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) and Air Defence (AD) offerings?

ROKETSAN continues to innovate in both anti-tank and air defence systems to meet the needs of modern warfare, and address the requirements deriving from evolving threats

As for Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM):

• KARAOK, a man-portable system, provides infantry units with powerful anti-armor capabilities, and is ideal for rapid deployment and urban combat scenarios.
• OMTAS and L-OMTAS a midrange anti-tank missile, provides flexible deployment options and enhanced operational reliability for both infantry and vehicles. It offers fire-and-forget and fire-and-update capabilities, enhancing flexibility in battlefield conditions, and is highly effective against modern armored threats with advanced tandem warheads.
• UMTAS and L-UMTAS systems - optimized for deployment from helicopters, ground vehicles, and naval platforms - offer unmatched precision, longer ranges, and advanced guidance technologies, making them highly effective against armored threats.
• We are proud to mention that it has recently been upgraded with an improved seeker performance and extended range and unveiled in the battlefield as L-UMTAS GM Extended Range.

As for Air Defence Systems:

• SUNGUR is a very short-range air defence system. It provides highly mobile and effective short-range air defence with its advanced imaging infrared seekers for precision targeting.
• HİSAR Family (HİSAR-A+ and HİSAR-O+) is short and medium-range air defence system, fully operational and continuously improved for enhanced interception capability. It provides robust protection against aerial threats, including drones, helicopters, and fighter jets.
• ROKETSAN is also advancing SİPER, our long-range air defence system, which will significantly enhance layered defence strategies. This product is a future candidate for Indonesia’s strategic air defence requirements.

At ROKETSAN, we are fully committed to strengthening our collaboration with Indonesia. As Indonesia seeks to enhance its domestic defence industry, and ROKETSAN is prepared to support this goal by sharing expertise and enabling local production capabilities for certain systems. Our recent agreements, naval projects, and missile system offerings position us as a reliable defence partner. We look forward to further expanding our partnerships and contributing to Indonesia’s defence modernization efforts