Turkey's New Long-Range Missile: Yıldırımhan

Turkey has introduced its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The missile's name is "Yıldırımhan." It was shown to the public at a big defence fair in Istanbul.

The missile has special symbols on it. One side shows the seal of an old Ottoman sultan. The front part has the signature of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey. The Defence Minister gave some information about Yıldırımhan. He said it is Turkey's longest-range missile. It works with liquid fuel. It can also fly at hypersonic speed. This means it is five times faster than the speed of sound. According to the information at the fair, the missile's range is 6,000 kilometres. It has four rocket engines and can reach a speed of Mach 25. That is 25 times the speed of sound.

Turkey is also developing other missiles. One example is the Tayfun family. The newest Tayfun missile is ten metres long and weighs 7,200 kilograms. Its range is probably 1,000 kilometres. Another missile, called Cenk, may have a 2,000-kilometre range.  International rules limit the production of long-range missiles. Some experts think that countries often give lower range numbers than the real ones. They do this to avoid problems with these rules.

ICBMs are weapons for very long distances. They are different from normal ballistic missiles. Normal ballistic missiles have a range between 300 and 5,500 kilometres. But ICBMs can travel more than 10,000 kilometres. Countries that have ICBMs include the United States, Russia, China, and India. Some ICBMs can carry nuclear weapons. Others use normal explosives.

References

https://www.bbc.com/turkce/articles/c4g93wjvep7o