On March 15 Turkey’s Savunma Sanayii Baskanligi (SSB, Presidency of Defense Industries) announced that two “green” Bombardier Global 6000s had been delivered to the facilities of Turkish Aerospace to undergo modification to the Hava SOJ (air stand-off jammer) configuration. Some early graphics had depicted the system hosted on a Gulfstream platform.
On arrival, the aircraft were inspected by the SSB’s chairman, Ismail Demir, along with officials from the Turkish air force, Bombardier, Turkish Aerospace, and Aselsan—the electronics company that is prime contractor for the program. Aselsan was awarded the contract for four Hava SOJ aircraft on August 9, 2018, with the first to be delivered to Turkish Air Forces Command in 2023. A joint venture was formed with Turkish Aerospace to undertake the conversion work.
In common with other Global 6000 modifications, such as the Saab GlobalEye and Project Dolphin aircraft for the UAE, the Hava SOJ conversion requires extensive airframe modifications to add large sensor fairings. The aircraft is intended to provide a remote electronic support/electronic attack (ED/ET in Turkish nomenclature) capability, and will be equipped with a comprehensive ESM (electronic support measures) suite to detect and locate hostile radar transmissions and communications, and a powerful jamming suite to deceive and jam those emissions. In service, he aircraft is primarily intended to operate from stand-off range to suppress enemy air defenses and protect tactical aircraft during operations.
Aselsan’s electronics system for the Hava SOJ draws on the company’s work with the Koral/Kara SOJ land-based electronic support/attack suite that is mounted on two heavy vehicles. All of the systems are being developed in-country, and are claimed to be state-of-the-art. “We aim that the systems we will build will have much more advanced elements than the systems used in various countries around the world,” commented Demir during the welcoming event for the two aircraft.
References: www.ainonline.com