TSAMTO, July 6. Turkey has successfully tested a new modification of the Tayfun Block-3 ballistic missile, demonstrating the defeat of a moving naval target and actually confirming the creation of a new coastal-based anti-ship system.
The Turkish company Roketsan carried out another test launch of the Tayfun Block-3 ballistic missile at a freely moving unmanned surface target about 7 m long, simulating a small vessel. According to the developer, the target was hit by a warhead at hypersonic speed at the end of the flight path with high accuracy.
It is reported that this is the first time in Turkey that a national seeker has been integrated into a ballistic missile to destroy a moving naval target, which significantly expands the functionality of the Tayfun family as a means of attacking marine targets.
The integration of a moving target guidance system and trajectory control in the final section made it possible to qualify the Tayfun Block-3 as an anti-ship ballistic missile designed to destroy ships maneuvering at sea.
Previously, the basic Tayfun missile used a GOLIS (go-onto-location-in-space) guidance scheme with trajectory correction to hit stationary ground objects, while the new modification received a sensor package in the nose to track and hit a target that shifted from the initial coordinates during flight.
The basic version of the Tayfun has a length of about 6.5 m, a mass of about 2,300 kg and a declared circular error of less than 10 m, while using a high-explosive fragmentation warhead.
During the evolution of the family, Roketsan has developed larger variants, including the Tayfun Block-4, which is about 10 m long and weighs up to 7,200 kg, with claimed hypersonic speeds of over 5M and plans to begin mass production after testing is completed in 2026.
The first test of the Tayfun rocket was conducted in October 2022, the second in May 2023, after which the start of mass production was announced.
The third test took place in February 2025 on the Black Sea coast of Turkey. Then, according to open sources, the missile hit a naval target at a range of several hundred kilometers with a deviation of about 5 m, which preceded the current test of the Block-3 anti-ship modification.
According to experts, anti-ship ballistic missiles remain the armament of a limited number of states, while the Chinese DF-21D missile is indicated as one of the most famous samples.
Taking into account the successful Tayfun Block-3 test, Turkey actually joins a narrow circle of countries that have implemented the technology of hitting moving naval targets with ballistic missiles, which complements the previously announced Turkish programs in the field of medium- and long-range ballistic systems.
The Tayfun family was created on the basis of the previously developed Bora complex, the export version of which is known as Khan, with a range of up to 280-300 km, while for Tayfun the range of 560-800 km is indicated in open sources.
At the same time, Roketsan is developing a program for a larger CENK ballistic missile with a claimed range of over 2,000 km, as well as a line of cruise missiles (Gezgin, Atmaca, SOM), which forms an integrated system of long-range weapons for the Turkish Navy and the Turkish Navy.
