Positioning itself as a key player in the global defence market, Turkey has revealed two devastating non-nuclear bombs at the 17th International Defence Industry Fair held this week in Istanbul.
The first bomb, known as GAZAP (Wrath), is a conventional aircraft bomb featuring a warhead that weighs 970 kilogrammes.
This thermobaric weapon, also called a vacuum bomb, relies on a mix of fuel and oxygen to produce a high temperature blast.
A secondary ignition follows the initial explosion, making it far more destructive than most non-nuclear bombs in its class, with a reported blast radius of up to one kilometre.
State affiliated media have hailed it as NATO-member Turkey’s “most powerful” air-launched conventional bomb to date.
The second weapon, named Hayalet (Ghost), is a bunker busting bomb engineered to penetrate up to seven metres of reinforced concrete.
Both bombs are compatible with the US-made F-16 fighter jet and weigh nearly one tonne each.
Back in June, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his aim to enhance the country’s defence capabilities to a level that deters any potential aggressor.
During the 12 day conflict between Iran and Israel, Erdogan also announced new initiatives to ramp up production of medium and longrange missile systems.
