"work on GÖKBORA BVRAAM’s solid fuel ramjet was completed," ROKETSAN General Manager Murat İkinci said in December 2025, marking a milestone in a program Ankara has framed as Türkiye’s longest-range air-to-air missile.
Overview and claimed capability
ROKETSAN unveiled GÖKBORA at IDEF 2025 as a beyond-visual-range (BVR) air-to-air missile built around a solid-fuel ramjet and advertised with a range of more than 100 nautical miles — about 185 km. The company describes GÖKBORA as Türkiye’s first air-to-air weapon powered by a solid-fuel ramjet and says it will be the country’s longest-range air-to-air missile. Turkish coverage has compared the program to the European Meteor, calling GÖKBORA a domestic counterpart to that ramjet-powered missile, which the coverage notes is used by several NATO air forces.
Design, size, and carriage
ROKETSAN is responsible for both the airframe and propulsion of GÖKBORA. The missile measures 3.75 meters in length and 180 millimeters in diameter and is reported to have folding fins. Those folding fins were highlighted as enabling carriage by the F-16, even though GÖKBORA was designed with an emphasis on internal carriage in weapons bays — specifically for the KAAN fighter and the Kızılelma unmanned combat aircraft. ROKETSAN has also listed ANKA and Akıncı among intended platforms and has mentioned ANKA-III and the Eurofighter Typhoon as additional integration targets.
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See what we buildAESA seeker, datalink and the IDEF 2025 contract
GÖKBORA combines inertial navigation and a datalink for midcourse guidance with an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radio frequency (RF) seeker for terminal guidance. At IDEF 2025 the Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB), ASELSAN and ROKETSAN signed a contract for the missile’s AESA seeker and datalink; the signatories on the contract were SSB President Haluk Görgün, ASELSAN General Manager Ahmet Akyol and ROKETSAN General Manager Murat İkinci. ASELSAN’s AGRAS 3101/AA is planned as Türkiye’s first AESA RF seeker, and ASELSAN and ROKETSAN are also reported to be working on integration with the MURAD AESA radar, ASELSAN’s AESA fire-control radar for Turkish combat aircraft.
Program context and parallel development
GÖKBORA is one of two Turkish ramjet BVR missile programs announced publicly at IDEF 2025; the other, GÖKHAN, is being developed by TÜBİTAK SAGE and uses a liquid-fuel ramjet with the F-16 cited as a target platform. ROKETSAN has positioned GÖKBORA for internal carriage on new and follow-on Turkish platforms while retaining the option to carry it externally on current F-16s thanks to folding fins.
Development timeline, testing and qualification targets
ROKETSAN officials put milestones on a variably paced schedule. İkinci announced completion of the solid-fuel ramjet in December 2025 and said firing tests would follow completion of the motor, describing the missile as a main weapon for Kızılelma. In a February 2026 interview İkinci estimated GÖKBORA would be ready in about two years, allowing for a possible six-month slip, and said ROKETSAN’s air-to-air missile trials would take place in 2026. Separately, the Ministry of National Defence’s 2025 report sets March 2031 as the target date for qualifying GÖKBORA on the F-16, alongside ongoing integration work for KAAN, Kızılelma and the Eurofighter.
What this means for ROKETSAN and ASELSAN; KAAN, Kızılelma, F-16 and the Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB)
- ROKETSAN and ASELSAN: The IDEF 2025 contract formalises the companies’ roles — ROKETSAN on airframe and propulsion, ASELSAN on the AGRAS 3101/AA AESA RF seeker and datalink — and ties the programs to SSB procurement plans.
- Platform integrators and operators (KAAN, Kızılelma, ANKA, Akıncı, F-16, Eurofighter): ROKETSAN has named a mix of crewed fighters and unmanned combat aircraft as intended carriers; folding fins permit limited external carriage on legacy F-16s while the missile is optimized for internal carriage on newer platforms.
- The Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB) and Ministry of National Defence: The SSB-led contract and the Ministry’s March 2031 F-16 qualification target provide official milestones that will shape integration and testing schedules through the remainder of the decade.
GÖKBORA is now positioned as a domestic, ramjet-powered BVR option with a stated 185.2 km reach, an onboard AESA seeker contract in hand, and a parallel national program in GÖKHAN. The program’s near-term trajectory will be set by motor firing tests and the trials ROKETSAN has placed on its 2026 calendar, while formal qualification on the F-16 remains tied to the Ministry of National Defence’s 2031 timetable.
