Turkey Reveals 6,000 km-Range Liquid-Fueled Ballistic Missile at SAHA Expo 2026

ISTANBUL — The Turkish Ministry of National Defense unveiled details about the Yıldırımhan long-range ballistic missile during the SAHA Expo 2026 defense exhibition in Istanbul this week. Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Güler spoke at a press conference on Thursday during the exhibition.

“We have elevated our work to a more advanced level through the technology base we established two years ago within our Ministry of National Defense R&D Center,” he said.

Güler described the Yıldırımhan Long-Range Missile as Turkey’s first liquid-fueled rocket missile system, capable of hypersonic-speed flight and possessing the country’s longest range. The Yıldırımhan missile uses unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine as fuel and dinitrogen tetroxide as the oxidizer. It is capable of carrying a 3-ton warhead to a range of 6,000 kilometers.

Turkey has been working on hypersonic technologies and liquid-propellant propulsion systems for nearly a decade. Nilüfer Kuzulu, the director-general of the Turkish Ministry of National Defence’s R&D Center, told Turkish broadcaster NTV Türkiye that after initially producing small quantities of the propellants in laboratory conditions, the ministry transitioned to serial production and integrated the technology into the Yıldırımhan missile program.

“Developing this fuel is extremely difficult, and it was not something previously manufactured in Turkey,” she said.

Kuzulu added that what began as small-scale laboratory work years ago has now been transformed into serial production. “We now have both the production capability and the associated production facility,” she said.

The Yıldırımhan Missile System has successfully completed laboratory testing and will enter field or ground testing in the coming period. Work on the field-testing campaign for the Yıldırımhan Missile System is continuing according to the planned schedule. Defense News reported that the SAHA Expo 2026 defense exhibition took place in Istanbul this week.

As part of the National Technology Initiative, the Turkish Ministry of National Defense stated it will continue to support the development of the defense industry, develop indigenous and national systems, and enhance Türkiye’s strategic deterrence capability.

The ministry’s progress on the Yıldırımhan program builds directly on the R&D investments launched two years ago. Those efforts turned laboratory-scale propellant work into industrial production, a step Kuzulu described as overcoming a longstanding domestic manufacturing gap.

MND sources confirmed the testing sequence remains on track, moving from completed laboratory validation to imminent ground trials.