Indigenous AESA Radar Family
Geography: Emea · Middle East · Turkey
ASELSAN has developed a family of active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars, with the MURAD variant achieving its first flight on a Turkish F-16 in 2024. The radar provides multi-target detection, concurrent air-to-air and air-to-ground operating modes, and beyond-visual-range missile cueing. It has been successfully integrated on the Bayraktar Akinci UCAV and the Kizilelma unmanned fighter, and is planned for the KAAN fifth-generation fighter.
AESA radar technology is one of the most tightly controlled defense technologies globally, with only a handful of nations possessing indigenous development capability. Turkey's achievement in developing and flight-testing an AESA radar — and then integrating it across multiple platform types — represents a step-change in its sensor sovereignty. The TOYGUN electro-optical targeting system complements the radar with passive tracking and laser designation.
The MURAD radar's cross-platform deployment strategy maximizes development return: a single radar family serves F-16 upgrades, heavy UCAVs, unmanned fighters, and fifth-generation manned fighters. This approach reduces per-platform costs and accelerates fielding timelines, while building the engineering experience needed for more advanced radar variants.
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