Turkish indigenous rail gun “Şahi-209” to be integrated to naval assets

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October 31, 2019, by navaltoday

Turkey rail gun Sahi-209 — Photo: Yeteksan Co.

The Turkish defense industry is growing day by day. With the confidence of the success in recent years, Turkish engineers are very close to a game-changer technology, Electromagnetic Rail Gun (EMRG).

According to the sources in Turkey, Turkish indigenous Rail Gun (launches ammunition with electromagnetic power), Şahi-209, will be integrated to a naval vessel in order to carry out the sea trials of the Block-II version of the gun. Turkey will be the third country, using the rail gun at sea.

In Turkey, works in this field started with pulse power supply production activities in 1972 and continued with the development of the first electronically controlled switching high current control systems in 1985, the first conceptual model has been under development from 2008 until today. A Turkish defense company, YETEKNOLOJI Co., that has started finding national solutions and original designs for Electromagnetic Rail Gun Technology, has been working on Şahi-209 since July 2018.

The company, Yeteknoloji, which provides sophisticated weaponry to governments, and in particular military and intelligence agencies in the Middle East and Asia has demonstrated its latest creation, Electromagnetic Railgun (EMRG), known as Sahi-209 Blok 2, to a delegation of defense experts, the company confirmed on 9th October.

Defense Industries, the Turkish Armed Forces, the General Directorate of Security and Mechanical and Chemical Industry Company, were among those to witness the capabilities of the railgun, Fazil Hizal, the head of Yeteknoloji told the Turkish State Agency.

“Sahi-209 provides ease of logistics, use, operation and storage security by using electricity instead of explosive propellants and shooting barrels with the hypersonic velocity (six times the speed of sound),” Fazil Hilal said.

“The EMRG can be made operational for land-based platforms within one year upon request,” he added. The contractor’s chief said the defense industries’ paradigm is changing, and if Turkey adapts to these changes it can become one of the top countries in the world.

What is Şahi-209?

Şahi-209 took the name from “ŞAHİ” which was the most futuristic effective weapon used to demolish the walls of Istanbul by the emperor “Fatih” Mehmed the II, and the date of the establishment of Turkish Land Forces BC 209. Şahi-209 is the only 100% domestic and 95% national electromagnetic rail gun in Turkey.

Using electricity instead of an explosive propellant for launch provides ease of logistics, ease of use, operation – storage security. It can shoot at hypersonic velocities at and above MACH6 with a very low cost compared to conventional gunpowder systems. The Rail Gun, which has a very low radar cross-sectional area, is very difficult to detect. It also has a much higher and more destructive power.

ŞAHİ-209 Block1, 1 megajoule pulsed power supply, with 300 gram weight ammunition has a range of 10 kilometers. It can be effective in 50 km range with maximum 10 megajoule pulse power supply in the new version of ŞAHİ-209 Block 2. ŞAHİ 209 Block 2, which has a hypersonic muzzle velocity, has a barrel length of 7 meters. It has started field tests and successfully performed the first shots.

The system will be able to be used in land-based and naval usage or at mobile tactical platforms. In future progress, long-range ballistic ammunition, even the potential for satellite launch can be shown among the advantages of classical systems.

The system, rather than replacing existing systems, can serve as a support element for them; It has the ability to perform operations with maximum security, be very advantageous in terms of logistics, and execute operations with cheaper and faster hits than other systems.