TCG
Istanbul
seen transiting the Bosphorus Strait enroute to the test site on 2 March.
(Cem Devrim Yaylali)

The Turkish Navy performed its first Hisar-D missile launch from the Midlas vertical launch system (VLS) installed onboard the TCG
Istanbul
in the second week of March.

The event marked the first launch from the indigenous VLS on the high seas. The frigate was observed sailing northbound through the Bosphorus Strait to the test site on 2 March.

Haluk Görgün, the president of the Defence Industry Agency (SSB), shared a video of the firing on social media. The video showed the loading of the canisters with the missile on TCG
Istanbul
while the ship was at Karadeniz Ereğli naval base.

A single Hisar-D air-defence missile was launched from the Midlas VLS. The Hisar-D radar-guided missile used during the test is a naval version of the Hisar-O air-defence missile being developed for the Turkish Land Forces. The imaging infrared seeker of the original missile was replaced with an radio frequency seeker for the naval version. The missile has a dual-pulse engine with an approximate range of 25 km.