IDEF 2023: Roketsan plans to introduce UAV-230 missile in 2024

Roketsan's UAV-230 air-to-surface ballistic supersonic missile is integrated into Akıncı's UCAV, and all missile tests are conducted from this platform. (Roketsan)

Roketsan's UAV-230 air-to-surface supersonic missile is in its final qualification phase and is scheduled to begin series production by the end of 2023, the company announced at the 16th International Defence Industry Fair (IDEF) held from 25 to 28 July in Istanbul, where a prototype of the missile was displayed. According to Roketsan, the UAV-320 will enter service in 2024.

The 3.4 m-long UAV-230 (domestic name IHA-230) is an air-launched variant of Roketsan's TRG-230 surface-to-surface missile, which has been converted for use from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). It is envisaged that the aircraft it will include the Baykar Bayraktar Akıncı, Turkish Aerospace's Aksungur, and the developmental Baykar Kızılelma ‘loyal wingman', among others.

However, according to company literature, the missile can also be integrated on other platforms such as existing ground vehicles, unmanned ground vehicles, MILGEM-class corvettes, and Marlin SİDA armed unmanned surface vessels.

In December 2022 Roketsan test-fired the IHA-230/UAE-230 missile for the first time from a Bayraktar Akıncı UAV, hitting a target at a distance of 100 km. The second test, which was conducted in April 2023, demonstrated its strike capability against a target 140 km away.

The missile, as exhibited at IDEF, has a cylindrical body with a conical front section that has four small delta fins and four control surfaces at the rear. The standard missile features a 42 kg fragmentation warhead. Other warhead options – that could be equipped depending on the target types – are frangible impact and thermobaric. The missile is intended for use against target sets that include fixed land and sea targets, lightly armoured vehicles, and air defences, among others.