SUNGUR Deliveries & Inventory: When Was It Delivered, Which Platforms Use It? (2026)

SUNGUR is a low-altitude air defense missile that a single soldier can shoulder-launch or that can be mounted on a platform. It was developed under the Defense Industries Agency’s Portable Air Defense (PorSav) project, drawing on ROKETSAN’s experience from the HİSAR and Stinger programs.

With an imaging-infrared seeker, lock-on before launch and fire-and-forget capability, it offers day-night detection, tracking and 360-degree engagement. Considered a 4th-generation MANPADS, SUNGUR forms the portable backbone of modern low-altitude air defense.

SUNGUR’s primary user is the Turkish Land Forces, but its real strength comes from being integrable onto many platforms.

This multi-platform nature turns SUNGUR from a single shoulder missile into an air-defense missile family used across land, sea and air.

SUNGUR achieved initial operational capability in 2020 and serial production began in May 2021. Vehicle-mounted deliveries started in the second half of 2021, and the first shoulder-launched MANPADS batch reached the Land Forces in July 2022.

In March 2024 the Ministry of National Defence confirmed new SUNGUR deliveries after inspection and acceptance — showing the system entering the inventory widely under serial production.

SUNGUR’s greatest strength is adapting one missile to different mission needs. Alongside the shoulder-launched infantry variant, vehicle-mounted versions on platforms like the BMC VURAN were tested and delivered.

Under an agreement with Baykar, SUNGUR is to be integrated onto the TB2 and AKINCI, then the TB3, giving UAVs air-to-air capability. For naval platforms, the SUNGUR-based LEVENT close-in air defense system is in development.

One of SUNGUR’s most innovative uses is integration onto UAVs as an air-to-air missile. Beginning with the Baykar TB2 and AKINCI and continuing with the TB3, this gives Turkish UAVs the ability to shoot down enemy aircraft — especially other UAVs — in the air.

This gives Türkiye an early edge in the increasingly important drone-vs-drone combat of modern air warfare. SUNGUR’s light weight and infrared seeker make it a suitable air-to-air weapon for UAV platforms, letting a single missile serve both ground- and air-based air defense.

SUNGUR belongs to the same class as the US FIM-92 Stinger, Russia’s Igla/Verba and France’s Mistral. With an 8 km range and an imaging-infrared seeker, it matches — and on range often leads — these peers.

Its real advantage is being fully indigenous and usable across a wide platform range from the shoulder to UAVs, giving Türkiye supply independence and flexible deployment in portable air defense.

SUNGUR is built by ROKETSAN. Its propulsion, seeker and warhead were largely developed indigenously; the system is a portable extension of ROKETSAN’s experience with the HİSAR air-defense family.

SUNGUR fills the lowest layer (very short range) beneath HİSAR and SİPER in ROKETSAN’s air-defense portfolio, completing Türkiye’s layered air-defense architecture.

SUNGUR replaces an inventory long reliant on imported Stinger-class missiles with an indigenous solution in portable air defense — a strategic gain in both cost and embargo-risk terms.

Integration onto UAVs and naval platforms turns SUNGUR from a single infantry weapon into a multi-layered air-defense element; this versatility also raises its export potential.

SUNGUR is Türkiye’s first indigenous man-portable air defense system (MANPADS), developed by ROKETSAN. With an imaging-infrared seeker it can hit low-flying aircraft, helicopters and UAVs out to 8 km.

SUNGUR achieved initial operational capability in 2020 and serial production began in May 2021. The shoulder-launched MANPADS variant’s first batch was delivered to the Land Forces in July 2022, with additional deliveries in March 2024.

It can be shoulder-launched or integrated onto ground vehicles like the BMC VURAN, naval platforms (LEVENT) and UAVs such as TB2/AKINCI/TB3 (air-to-air).

SUNGUR has a range of about 8 km and an altitude of 4–4.5 km; the missile exceeds Mach 2.2.

Yes. SUNGUR was developed as an indigenous alternative to US-made Stinger-class MANPADS, reducing dependence in this capability.

LEVENT is a SUNGUR-missile-based close-in air defense system for naval platforms — SUNGUR carried into the naval domain.