Turkish Missile Manufacturer Roketsan to Put Laser Guided Mini Missile System METE Into Mass Production
A new test fire of the laser-guided mini-missile system Mete, recently developed by ROKETSAN, the Turkish defense industry’s ammunition, missile, and rocket production center, was conducted. Within the course of the test, the METE missile fitted on the PAVO Group’s Gök Alp Drone system successfully hit its target. Roketsan then made the decision to mass-produce the METE missile. The company stated that “METE, the smallest member of our family, is ready for mass production!”
PAVO Group Chairman of the Board Dr. Alper Özbilen commented on METE’s test-fire, saying, “Our Gök Alp drone… met in the skies with our Roketsan’s METE. Gök Alp, the first platform to deploy METE, stands out for its useful load capacity and ability to remain stable without being affected by the launch (of these missiles). We will play an active role in the foreign market with the Gök Alp Drone system, which eliminates the shaking and loss of altitude problems experienced by small-scale drone systems when using such munitions.”
The Laser Guided Mini Missile System, which Roketsan began developing to provide precision strikes, particularly for urban operations, was initially displayed at the IDEF 2019 Fair in Istanbul under the name YATAĞAN. The YATAĞAN missile was later named after the athlete Mete Gazoz, who won Turkey’s first Olympic medal in archery. The missile in question was initially tested in October 2021 using the Gök Alp Drone system. Mete was then integrated into the BARKAN unmanned ground vehicle developed by Havelsan, which operates in the defense and information sectors in Turkey, for a new test fire. With the successful test, Barkan became Turkey’s first unmanned ground vehicle capable of firing guided missiles.
METE has a diameter of 40mm, a length of 500mm, and a weight of about 1.2 kg, according to ROKETSAN. The METE missile features a semi-active laser seeker with a hit accuracy of approximately 1 meter CEP (circular error probability) and may be employed against targets between 400 and 1,000 meters away. METE is compatible with unmanned aerial, land, and maritime vehicles, as well as manned platforms. A single operator can also fire the missile using a new generation 40-millimeter grenade launcher.