Türkiye Signals New Phase For Tayfun Block 4 Hypersonic Missile In Long-Range Strike Plan
{loadposition bannertop}
{loadposition sidebarpub}
Türkiye has signalled momentum in the Tayfun Block 4 ballistic missile program, with Roketsan noting that “good news” on the system will be shared soon. The comment points to an approaching new phase in Türkiye’s hypersonic-capable, extended-range strike effort and underscores the country’s broader drive to expand deterrence through missile development and layered air defense modernization.
On 18 November 2025, Türkiye’s missile program took a new step as Roketsan signalled renewed momentum in the Tayfun Block 4 ballistic missile effort, a system already linked with hypersonic performance and extended range strike capability. Emerging from a broader push to build a fully sovereign missile and air defense architecture, Tayfun Block 4 is presented as the next evolution of Türkiye’s longest-range ballistic missile family. This development is relevant not only for the Turkish Armed Forces but also for observers tracking the balance of power from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Black Sea. The announcement gains added weight as it comes alongside continued progress on the Siper long-range air and missile defense system and the multi-layer Çelik Kubbe (Steel Dome) architecture, signalling a coordinated national approach to both strike and protection. During the Dubai Airshow, Roketsan General Manager Murat İkinci told TRT Haber that “good news” regarding the Tayfun Block 4 missile would be shared soon, a comment widely interpreted as an indication that new trials are approaching even though he did not explicitly confirm a test timeline.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
The Tayfun Block 4 is a long-range, hypersonic-capable ballistic missile designed for fast regional strike missions (Picture source: Army Recognition Group)
Tayfun is Türkiye’s first domestically developed short- to medium-range ballistic missile family, designed on the basis of the earlier Bora line but pushing range and precision into a new category for the country. Tayfun Block 1 has already demonstrated ranges up to roughly 800 km with precision on the order of a few meters CEP, giving Türkiye the ability to strike deep targets such as air bases, ports and critical infrastructure far beyond its borders. Block 4 represents a substantial redesign: according to open information from IDEF 2025, the missile has been stretched to around 10 meters and its mass increased to approximately 7 tons, moving Tayfun into a heavier class with a projected range of around 1,000 km and flight speeds in the hypersonic domain (above Mach 5). Mounted on mobile road launchers, Tayfun batteries can be dispersed, concealed and repositioned rapidly, complicating adversary targeting and improving survivability against pre-emptive strikes.
Operationally, Tayfun has already undergone a series of flight tests since its first publicised launch on 20 October 2022, when a missile fired from Rize-Artvin Airport flew about 561 km before impacting at sea off Sinop on Türkiye’s Black Sea coast, according to the Ministry of National Defense. Subsequent firings on 23 May 2023 and 3 February 2025, again from the Rize area toward maritime targets, were reported by Turkish authorities and specialist media to have achieved ranges in the 500–800 km band with accuracy on the order of five metres, and officials announced the start of mass production on 29 May 2023. Tayfun Block 4, a much larger hypersonic variant unveiled at the IDEF 2025 defence fair in Istanbul, increases missile length to around 10 metres and launch weight to roughly 7.2 tonnes and is credited with a range of about 1,000 km in open sources. In October 2025, Turkish statements and regional reporting described a successful Block 4 test in a land-to-sea scenario, and Roketsan’s leadership has indicated that expanded Block 4 trials are approved with mass production targeted for around 2026. These developments are unfolding in parallel with the serial production and initial deployment of the long-range SİPER air- and missile-defence system and the progressive implementation of the Çelik Kubbe (‘Steel Dome’) integrated air-defence architecture, programmes in which Roketsan provides key missile components alongside partners such as Aselsan and TÜBİTAK SAGE.
In capability terms, Tayfun Block 4 is designed to provide Türkiye with a domestically developed alternative to foreign short- and medium-range ballistic missile systems in the 500–1,000 km category. Relative to the earlier Bora and first-generation Tayfun variants, Block 4’s larger dimensions, higher terminal velocity, and enhanced guidance suite substantially broaden its engagement envelope while posing greater challenges to legacy air-defense networks optimized for slower, lower-altitude threats. The system’s solid-fuel propulsion and GPS/GLONASS-assisted inertial navigation, combined with indigenously developed warhead and seeker technologies, reflect Türkiye’s strategic objective of achieving sovereign control over critical subsystems and reducing exposure to export-control constraints. Distinct from other regional ballistic platforms, Tayfun Block 4 is integrated into a comprehensive national defense architecture, anchored by SİPER for long-range air and missile defense, HISAR for medium-range coverage, and Çelik Kubbe as the overarching networked shield, delivering both offensive reach and defensive resilience within a predominantly indigenous framework.
The upcoming Tayfun Block 4 tests carry substantial strategic importance. From a military perspective, the missile’s reliable hypersonic ballistic capability, with a range of up to 1,000 kilometers, enables Türkiye to threaten critical targets across the Eastern Mediterranean, Aegean, Black Sea basin, and parts of the Middle East, thereby reinforcing its anti-access/area-denial capabilities and complicating adversaries’ operational planning. Geopolitically, this advancement enhances Ankara’s leverage within NATO and its regional sphere, showcasing growing autonomy in its missile program independent of foreign technology imports. It also clearly warns regional actors investing in ballistic missile defenses that future systems must consider a mobile, accurate, and high-speed threat that is challenging to intercept with existing platforms. Finally, from a defense-industrial standpoint, the Tayfun Block 4 underscores Roketsan’s pivotal role in Türkiye’s vision to establish a vertically integrated missile production ecosystem, encompassing loitering munitions, precision-guided bombs, and long-range surface-to-surface and surface-to-air arms, with significant export potential to partners aligned with Türkiye’s strategic autonomy goals.
The signal emerging from the Dubai Airshow is clear: with Roketsan hinting at upcoming developments for Tayfun Block 4 and parallel progress on systems such as Siper and Çelik Kubbe, Türkiye is steadily shaping a unified strike and defense architecture that will influence all future military assessments in the region. The “good news” referenced by Murat İkinci is more than a routine program note, it highlights the accelerating convergence of Türkiye’s missile and air defense initiatives into a coherent and nationally controlled strategic framework.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.
{loadposition bannertop}
{loadposition sidebarpub}
Türkiye has signalled momentum in the Tayfun Block 4 ballistic missile program, with Roketsan noting that “good news” on the system will be shared soon. The comment points to an approaching new phase in Türkiye’s hypersonic-capable, extended-range strike effort and underscores the country’s broader drive to expand deterrence through missile development and layered air defense modernization.
On 18 November 2025, Türkiye’s missile program took a new step as Roketsan signalled renewed momentum in the Tayfun Block 4 ballistic missile effort, a system already linked with hypersonic performance and extended range strike capability. Emerging from a broader push to build a fully sovereign missile and air defense architecture, Tayfun Block 4 is presented as the next evolution of Türkiye’s longest-range ballistic missile family. This development is relevant not only for the Turkish Armed Forces but also for observers tracking the balance of power from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Black Sea. The announcement gains added weight as it comes alongside continued progress on the Siper long-range air and missile defense system and the multi-layer Çelik Kubbe (Steel Dome) architecture, signalling a coordinated national approach to both strike and protection. During the Dubai Airshow, Roketsan General Manager Murat İkinci told TRT Haber that “good news” regarding the Tayfun Block 4 missile would be shared soon, a comment widely interpreted as an indication that new trials are approaching even though he did not explicitly confirm a test timeline.
The Tayfun Block 4 is a long-range, hypersonic-capable ballistic missile designed for fast regional strike missions (Picture source: Army Recognition Group)
Tayfun is Türkiye’s first domestically developed short- to medium-range ballistic missile family, designed on the basis of the earlier Bora line but pushing range and precision into a new category for the country. Tayfun Block 1 has already demonstrated ranges up to roughly 800 km with precision on the order of a few meters CEP, giving Türkiye the ability to strike deep targets such as air bases, ports and critical infrastructure far beyond its borders. Block 4 represents a substantial redesign: according to open information from IDEF 2025, the missile has been stretched to around 10 meters and its mass increased to approximately 7 tons, moving Tayfun into a heavier class with a projected range of around 1,000 km and flight speeds in the hypersonic domain (above Mach 5). Mounted on mobile road launchers, Tayfun batteries can be dispersed, concealed and repositioned rapidly, complicating adversary targeting and improving survivability against pre-emptive strikes.
Operationally, Tayfun has already undergone a series of flight tests since its first publicised launch on 20 October 2022, when a missile fired from Rize-Artvin Airport flew about 561 km before impacting at sea off Sinop on Türkiye’s Black Sea coast, according to the Ministry of National Defense. Subsequent firings on 23 May 2023 and 3 February 2025, again from the Rize area toward maritime targets, were reported by Turkish authorities and specialist media to have achieved ranges in the 500–800 km band with accuracy on the order of five metres, and officials announced the start of mass production on 29 May 2023. Tayfun Block 4, a much larger hypersonic variant unveiled at the IDEF 2025 defence fair in Istanbul, increases missile length to around 10 metres and launch weight to roughly 7.2 tonnes and is credited with a range of about 1,000 km in open sources. In October 2025, Turkish statements and regional reporting described a successful Block 4 test in a land-to-sea scenario, and Roketsan’s leadership has indicated that expanded Block 4 trials are approved with mass production targeted for around 2026. These developments are unfolding in parallel with the serial production and initial deployment of the long-range SİPER air- and missile-defence system and the progressive implementation of the Çelik Kubbe (‘Steel Dome’) integrated air-defence architecture, programmes in which Roketsan provides key missile components alongside partners such as Aselsan and TÜBİTAK SAGE.
In capability terms, Tayfun Block 4 is designed to provide Türkiye with a domestically developed alternative to foreign short- and medium-range ballistic missile systems in the 500–1,000 km category. Relative to the earlier Bora and first-generation Tayfun variants, Block 4’s larger dimensions, higher terminal velocity, and enhanced guidance suite substantially broaden its engagement envelope while posing greater challenges to legacy air-defense networks optimized for slower, lower-altitude threats. The system’s solid-fuel propulsion and GPS/GLONASS-assisted inertial navigation, combined with indigenously developed warhead and seeker technologies, reflect Türkiye’s strategic objective of achieving sovereign control over critical subsystems and reducing exposure to export-control constraints. Distinct from other regional ballistic platforms, Tayfun Block 4 is integrated into a comprehensive national defense architecture, anchored by SİPER for long-range air and missile defense, HISAR for medium-range coverage, and Çelik Kubbe as the overarching networked shield, delivering both offensive reach and defensive resilience within a predominantly indigenous framework.
The upcoming Tayfun Block 4 tests carry substantial strategic importance. From a military perspective, the missile’s reliable hypersonic ballistic capability, with a range of up to 1,000 kilometers, enables Türkiye to threaten critical targets across the Eastern Mediterranean, Aegean, Black Sea basin, and parts of the Middle East, thereby reinforcing its anti-access/area-denial capabilities and complicating adversaries’ operational planning. Geopolitically, this advancement enhances Ankara’s leverage within NATO and its regional sphere, showcasing growing autonomy in its missile program independent of foreign technology imports. It also clearly warns regional actors investing in ballistic missile defenses that future systems must consider a mobile, accurate, and high-speed threat that is challenging to intercept with existing platforms. Finally, from a defense-industrial standpoint, the Tayfun Block 4 underscores Roketsan’s pivotal role in Türkiye’s vision to establish a vertically integrated missile production ecosystem, encompassing loitering munitions, precision-guided bombs, and long-range surface-to-surface and surface-to-air arms, with significant export potential to partners aligned with Türkiye’s strategic autonomy goals.
The signal emerging from the Dubai Airshow is clear: with Roketsan hinting at upcoming developments for Tayfun Block 4 and parallel progress on systems such as Siper and Çelik Kubbe, Türkiye is steadily shaping a unified strike and defense architecture that will influence all future military assessments in the region. The “good news” referenced by Murat İkinci is more than a routine program note, it highlights the accelerating convergence of Türkiye’s missile and air defense initiatives into a coherent and nationally controlled strategic framework.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.
